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Regrets, we all have a few. Yet we believe that, though other animals might have feelings, some are unique to our own intelligent systems.
Now researchers at the University of Minnesota are suggesting you're not so special. In a study loftily titled "Behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of regret in rat decision-making on a neuroeconomic task," they attempted to see whether rats could feel regret as we do.
The researchers decided, quite naturally, to use food as the bait. They set up their experiments by making the rats wait for a certain amount of time to get food. The food was of differing quality. Would the rats wait for the good stuff? Or would they move on to a shorter line, only to regret making their decision?
What they found was that if the rats got fed up of waiting and moved onto another food option, they would look back wistfully, as you might toward the memory of one night spent with Crazy Henry.
The researchers said that once the rats made a bad decision and ended up eating less satisfying food, they changed their decision-making process. At the next food stop, they'd wait a little longer in the hope that this one would be more nourishing.
originally posted by: Indigent
a reply to: Chamberf=6