Monkeys have regret too

[Cat]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/06/19/2391215/monkeys-have-regrets-too-study.html

HARTFORD, Conn. Like humans, monkeys also wonder about what might have been, according to a new study by Yale researchers.

The study, published in the journal Neuron, suggests that monkeys experience regret and can learn by imagining alternative outcomes to their actions. More important, the researchers said, it could shed light on the physiological activity of human brains when it comes to depression and schizophrenia.

The general assumption has been that animals learn only by direct experiences, or trial and error. But Daeyeol Lee, a professor of neurobiology at Yale School of Medicine, had a hunch that animals could imagine alternative outcomes without having experienced them.

"When people have regret, they're thinking about what could have happened; it's about imagining what could have happened," said Lee, co-author of the study.

To test the theory, the researchers monitored the brain activity of rhesus monkeys as they played a computer simulation of the game "rock, paper, scissors." The monkeys were rewarded according to whether they won, tied or lost. Most of the monkeys would then pick whichever symbol they would have won with in the previous game. In other words, Lee said, they could think abstractly and imagine an alternative outcome.

With brain imaging technology, the researchers pinpointed the activity in the brain triggered by this kind of thinking and the different forms that it takes. Lee said regret takes two forms, which take place in different parts of the prefrontal cortex. He noted the practical side of regret - where people learn from it - and the emotional side of regret - where people get sad or angry about what could have been.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/06/19/2391215/monkeys-have-regrets-too-study.html#ixzz1Pokyh7Dq

[bleys]

[SOJA]

Thats awesome

[Panthro]

"Curses....if only we had evolved opposable thumbs first"

~Monkeys