FAQ
A contribution of The Cephalopod Page
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I've had several discussions on this subject, one of which was initiated by Richard Katz (RICHARD808@aol.com) who writes:
Here's why I'm emailing: This was all based on the reported (in the newspapers) observation that O. vulgaris could learn how to grab a ball by watching from another tank. My experience in science has just set off ominous tones in my head saying 'What if it were a Hoax?' So I plowed through a bunch of stuff and came to the Cephalopod Page (love your taxonomic intro.). Never saw any other references to Scotto or Fiorito. This was apparently published in April 92 in AAAS 'Science.' I would like to hear that this sort of observation is old hat to cephalopod researchers, that octopus squid and the other guys do this sort of thing all the time. Hope to hear from you soon.
Katz |
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| Katz,
I don't think it was a hoax but I don't believe it either :-). Remember Clever Hans, the horse that could count? The horse was cueing off subtle changes in his owner's behavior, not actually counting. I'd still argue that Clever Hans was one smart horse - just not smart in the way the audience (and perhaps even the owner) believed. The same thing can happen in science and one must do carefully controlled experiments to determine what the animals are cuing from. A critique by Biederman and Davey of the Fiorito and Scotto experiment can be found in Science vol 259 (March 12, 1993). The critique questions: if the observational octopuses attacked the ball more often since it was a familiar item (i.e. octopuses are hesitant to attack novel stimuli), if observational learning or rapid imitation occurred (what was the role of the stimuli and the role of the demonstrator octopus - why were these not controlled for?). I should mention that Fiorito defend the experiment in the same issue of Science. The bottom line, at least in my mind, is that the Fiorito and Scotto experiment failed to prove observational learning since other factors were not controlled for. I certainly would not rule out the possibility of observational learning in cephalopods - after all they are the most advanced invertebrates. On the other hand, octopuses are not very social so there may not be much of a chance for them to evolve the ability to learn by observing other octopuses. As far as I know, the dust hasn't settled on this interesting question Katz, so I can't tell you what you want to hear. Dr. James Wood |