Past, present and future

[Geert Jeuring]

Hello Forum, I´m a physiotherapist currently writing an article for a physiotherapy magazine. In the article I´m stating that the human being is the only organism on earth capable of remembering past experiences, and use them for planning in the future. Then I started to remember a couple of lessons from the psychologyseminars about some rather smart monkeys and I´m not so sure any more. What´s your view. If possible with a reference to literature.


Geert

[Sragha]

I think, animals when trained can re-collect past experience and use the learnings as and when required to survive.

Elephants are a classic example for having an excellent memory, and recollect past events .
Good luck with your paper

[MrMistery]

I'm sorry but it simply isn't true. A cimpanzee can use a stick as a tool to dig for ants in an ant farm after his mother taught him to.
Reference: a commercial on National Geographic :d

[alextemplet]

Most animals have memory. Some not as good as us, some maybe better, but they all can remember past experiences.

[sham]

Animals can remember and learn from past experiences.
1) by habituation - remembering past experience by repeated action.
2) imprinting - remembering the first object it sees as its mother/ protector and learn from it.
3) conditioning - experiment by Russian physiologist Pavlov on a dog (refer to book)
Sham

[damien james]

Not only animalia, but a few other kingdom organisms have type of memory, although maybe not how we would define memory).

[Geert Jeuring]

Thanks for your replies. Maybe I haven´t specified my question enough or perhaps I should rephrase it. Are there other animals that are conscious of their past or their future. Human beings have this consciousnes, but in healing it is not always helpfull. Knowing (or think they know) about there situation/illnes often leads to catastrophizing. This I think can only happen if your conscious of your future. Of course I´m aware of the basic principles of behaviourism and that you can learn an animal to be afraid as a response to a certain stimulus but that´s not all the same, isn´t it?

Geert

[alextemplet]

Well, it might be the same or it might not. What do you call conscious? That's a very hard term for me to define, so please explain what you mean.

[Geert Jeuring]

Hello Alex, conscious in this case would mean. Does the animal perceive it´s illness as a threat to the future or is it only aware of its present state. Human beings often catastrophize their situation by pondering on what their current illness could mean to them in the future. It is most likely the cause for a lot of chronic nonspecific illnesses.

Geert

[alextemplet]

Some animals might. I know animals certainly don't enjoy being sick, but whether they see this as a threat to their health or simple discomfort, I don't know. You'd have to literally read the animal's mind to answer that one, wouldn't you?