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The Difference Between When & How Long Ago

April 30th, 2008

Are dogs “stuck in time”?

I think all dog owners have wondered about their dogs relationship with time. They don’t hold grudges and seem just as happy to see you after five minutes as after five hours. They remember faces, dog foods, and foes, but by no recognizable system of measure.

Did we discover time or invent it?

William Roberts and his colleagues at the University of Western Ontario’s Psychology Department discovered that rats are capable of keeping track of how much time has passed since they discovered a piece of cheese, but they don’t actually create memories of when the discovery occurred. To say, rats cannot place their findings in time seems obvious to me. Time and its instruments are as human as cheesecake or promotions, a specification of sweet things and social order.

“The research team, led by Roberts, designed an experiment in which rats visited the ‘arms’ of a maze at different times of day. Some arms contained moderately desirable food pellets, and one arm contained a highly desirable piece of cheese. Rats were later returned to the maze with the cheese removed on certain trials and with the cheese replaced with a pellet on others.

All told, three groups of rats were tested in the research using three varying cues: when, how long ago or when plus how long ago.

Only the cue of how long ago food was encountered was used successfully by the rats.

These results, the researchers say, suggest that episodic-like memory in rats is qualitatively different from human episodic memory, which involves retention of the point in past time when an event occurred.” (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403183024.htm)

Makes me think that time is just a system to ensure precision, and it causes as many headaches as advancements.
And I’m glad my dog doesn’t wear a watch? Can you imagine?

Posted in K9 Science | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “The Difference Between When & How Long Ago”

1. jan says:

   April 30, 2008 at 3:58 pm

   When I was on a regular work schedule, Misty the alpha Poodle knew when I would be home for lunch and after work. She would gather the other dogs to the door, according to the humans who were at home. Of course she’s smarter than a rat.
2. Lora says:

   May 1, 2008 at 1:04 am

   I guarantee they can tell time… They know what time dinner is and get antsy if I am a few minutes late. I swear they wear k9 wrist watches…