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Study: Rats can feel regret

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posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 07:56 AM
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Oh look that little cute fella, he is sorry for the bubonic plague.


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.


Cnet


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.


So there you have it we aren't better than big rats.



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 08:07 AM
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a reply to: Indigent




So there you have it we aren't better than big rats.

Yeah, I really enjoyed seeing them work on the space program, and setting up charities to feed the less fortunate, and all their random acts of kindness.



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 08:10 AM
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a reply to: Chamberf=6




posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 08:27 AM
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a reply to: Indigent

Very interesting and a bit sad.

Yes they do carry disease , but I doubt they know that.

On a lighter knote not all rats feel remorse, look at the rats in D.C...IMO



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 08:38 AM
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And then there's politicians ... to obvious I admit.
Why wouldn't rats feel the same feelings we do. Because of their little brains? Tinkerbell is a decent if slightly fictional example. She's tiny but good with her hands and has a very respectable moral compass.



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 09:33 AM
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why would they not in the first place.?
do we really need scientist to tell us this?

Common sence ffs.



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 09:51 AM
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Following are rhetoric "you".


You know why they use LAB Rats to test drugs humans take right?

Ever seen LD50 on a drug or posion that thumans can come to interact with?

LD50 stands for Lethal Dose according to test on Rats. amount it will take them to kill per amount to body weight ratio.


Best testing animals for human use. Rat > Pigs > Apes. Because they have much in common.



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 11:33 AM
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originally posted by: Indigent
a reply to: Chamberf=6



People like to think animals don't love and care about each other, that when you throw a "mate" you choose for an animal into their prison they are happy as can be.

Can you imagine you are locked in your home for life and a stranger is thrown in with you as a mate, now suppose you hate the person right off...but there is no one else, you eat when they say what they say and your life is not your own.

We do this to every kind of animal in zoos and in our caged birds and our chained "pets".



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 11:38 AM
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a reply to: Indigent

I "babysat" a couple of white rats for my sons friend when he went out with my son years ago. The rats were never caged, they lived with the guy. It was so funny feeling them run around on me, one sat by my ear watching TV and the other cozied up under my sweater to sleep.
Well you know how rats are they pee and poop nonstop, but these little guys didn't, seems they learned we don't like being used as a toilet so they actually know not to do that. Smart little guys and very sweet.



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 12:18 PM
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rats don't need to feel too sorry for the black death - it was mostly people carrying flees that spread it. jews were blamed for "poisoning the wells" (testimonies extracted through torture, same story with witches flying brooms) - in reality jews might indeed also have played a role in the spread, just not by deliberately poisoning wells or some crap but by being merchants carrying stuff like cloth around with them. italian merchants most likely also played a big role. keep in mind population density - cities were crowded and NASTY and DIRTY and thus the disease spread easily from person to person. rats back then actually were a lot cleaner than humans. this is why small communities can be preferred over big crowded cities.

rats are cutey wutey - don't feel sorry lil fellas



posted on Jun, 10 2014 @ 06:51 PM
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a reply to: ReubenSchwartzschild

Thank you for posting this. A great deal of illogical fear has been associated with rodents for many years, primarily due to the Black Death myth. I realize that some also view them as an agricultural pest. I prefer to view rats as very special creatures that were here long before humans, and will be here long after we have departed.




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