[lbo-talk] Mirror neurons

[John Thornton]

Carrol Cox wrote:
> My memory of this material is weak so perhaps someone else can redo this
> more accurately.
>
> A bird hides a bit of food in place X while another bird is watching,
> but pretends to hide it in place y.
>
> A second bird pretends not to watch while the deception is going on, but
> actually has seen the real hiding place.
>
> The second bird shows "mind-reading" in the sense needed here. That is,
> it acts according to a conception of the purposes of the first bird. 
>
> There was some lengthy research published on this someplace recently, &
> I think I read a report on it in Science News. But as I said, this is
> too sloppy but maybe it will remind someone else of a decent source with
> more accurate information.
>
> Carrol

Cambridge University study of jays from 1999 or 2000 I believe. They 
demonstrated that jays have the ability to read another individual's 
intentions, beliefs and desires as well as project their own experiences 
and memories on to others. This demonstrates self-awareness but jays 
also "fail" the standard mirror test for self-awareness.
http://www.psychol.cam.ac.uk/pages/staffweb/clayton/Scrub_jays.html

John Thornton