WEBVTT - How Is 1968's Poor People's Campaign Reviving Today? 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:04.760 Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:11.320 Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, most dogs and cats 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.480 are never late for a meal. They know exactly where 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:17.440 to be at the same time every day. They also 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.759 know their owner's schedules, and, like clockwork, will join you 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.080 in or even anticipate your daily movements, like waiting by 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.600 the door when you usually get home from work, or 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.560 complaining if it's bedtime and you're still up. When you 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.040 witness this behavior, you might assume that your pet has 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:36.000 a sophisticated understanding of time, But what is time really 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.400 like for a dog or cat. To understand how animals 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:44.680 perceive time, we first need to understand how humans perceive time. Arguably, 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.800 each person experiences the passing of time in different ways 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.519 at different times. Albert Einstein once explained the principle of 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.320 relativity by saying, when a man sits with a pretty 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:56.600 girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:58.400 let him sit on a hot stove for a minute, 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:02.360 and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity. Even though 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:05.760 the experience of time is relative for every individual, all 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.679 humans probably think about time in similar ways. For instance, 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.080 our memories are inextricably tied to how we understand the 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.880 passing of time. Our ability to remember events in a 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:18.840 particular order plays a large part in our perception of time. 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.800 We're also able to predict things not in a psychic way. 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:26.200 Each of us makes educated assumptions about certain events in 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.840 the future, even as simple as assuming that the sun 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:33.600 will come up tomorrow. These abilities have important implications. For instance, 0:01:33.720 --> 0:01:36.000 memory and prediction allow us to have a sense of 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:40.959 continuity of personal history and self awareness. So do dogs, 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.160 Cats and other animals have the same abilities. If you 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:46.800 climbed inside of a dog's mind, would you be presented 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:49.520 with the memory of eating a raw hide bone earlier 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.320 this morning. Research on how dogs and cats in particularly 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:56.360 perceived time is limited, but we can learn more about 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:58.440 it when we look at the extensive research that's been 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.400 done with other animals, such as broad birds and primates. 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:06.120 Animal cognition researcher William Roberts has made some remarkable conclusions 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:10.359 regarding animal memories and anticipation. He says that animals are 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.240 stuck in time. By this, he means that without the 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.320 sophisticated abilities it takes to perceive time, like truly forming memories, 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.320 animals only live in the present. Roberts thinks animals are 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.760 stuck in time because they can't mentally time travel backward 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:29.400 or forward. Humans can consciously and willfully think back to 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:34.880 specific memories and anticipate new events. Animals cannot, too many. 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.040 This might seem like a faulty theory. After all, can't 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:41.520 we train animals and doesn't this training depend on animals 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.360 own memories? Well, not necessarily, at least not in the 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:49.320 way we usually think of memories. According to Roberts, animals 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:51.160 might be trained to do things in the same way 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.040 that young children are trained to do things. According to 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.600 studies with children, by the age of four, kids have 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:00.160 learned lots of things crawling, walking, but without them toll 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.400 ability to remember where or how they learned them. In 0:03:03.440 --> 0:03:06.360 other words, they don't have the power of episodic memory, 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:09.480 or the ability to remember particular events in the past. 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:12.480 A dog can know how to respond to the command 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.320 sit without having a memory of the specific event in 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.440 which it learned that command. And that's not all that's 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:20.560 at work in a dog or cat's brain to help it, 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:24.840 for example, impeccably predict the arrival of its owner. Internal 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:29.080 biological rhythms also play their part. According to Robert's researchers 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:32.359 have discovered from experiments on pigeons that an internal clock 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.240 allowed the birds to learn where and when food would 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:40.000 be available. Similarly, our furry friends might use circadian oscillators, 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.840 that is, daily fluctuations of hormones, body temperature, and neural 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.840 activity to know when food is likely to hit the 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:50.480 bowl or when owners are likely to return home. Instead 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.520 of remembering how much time passes between meals or what 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.000 time meals are given, dogs and cats react to a 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.600 biological state that they reach at a particular time of day, 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:01.920 and they react the same way at the same time 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.600 every day to the stimulus. So if they can't store 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.680 memories like humans can, can they plan for the future. 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:12.360 In his work, Roberts argues that time is a human 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.800 construction created to keep track of such things as days 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:20.520 and significant events. A timekeeping devices from sundials and precise 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.560 clocks to smartphones have revolutionized how humans perceived time, and 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:28.520 animals don't have the advantage of these tools. Human beings 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:32.000 have two important abilities to help us understand time. We 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.599 are able to remember a sequence of events, and we 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.719 are able to anticipate future needs or events. Studies show 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:41.960 that animals may have these abilities, but to a lesser extent. 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.680 Scientists have tested animals working memories and reference memories, that is, 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:50.159 their short term and long term memory, respectively. They did 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.320 this to see how well the animals recall sequences of events. 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.599 In working memory tests, for example, pigeons or primates have 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:00.719 been encouraged to remember a sequence well enough to pick 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.760 or pick it in the right order again to get 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:06.280 a reward. The animals did fairly well at these tasks, 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.720 but their memory faded fast. Roberts thinks that they were 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.719 probably learning going from weakest memory to strongest memory, rather 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.920 than actually learning or remembering a sequence. Other researchers found 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.760 that pigeons and monkeys performed well at reference memory tests, 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:22.880 in which they needed to remember a sequence after a 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.080 delay between learning and testing, but it took extensive training 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.120 for the animals to learn these sequences, suggesting to Roberts 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:33.240 that the ability did not come naturally to them. From 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.120 these tests, it seems that animals would perceive time differently 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.560 from humans, who have a relatively reliable and sophisticated memory 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.920 of a sequence of events. In addition, animals don't seem 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.160 to anticipate future needs and rewards very well, suggesting to 0:05:46.240 --> 0:05:48.839 researchers that they don't have a concept of the future. 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.080 For instance, when given the choice, pigeons and rats shows 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:57.320 a smaller immediate reward over a larger future reward. In 0:05:57.360 --> 0:06:00.880 one test, researchers presented primates with a choice between one 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:06.880 banana and two bananas. Understandably, they chose to bananas consistently. However, 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.440 as the supply of the two choices got larger, they 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:13.720 started showing less of a preference. They weren't hungry enough 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:16.320 at that moment to eat ten bananas, so they chose 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.960 five bananas about half the time. Roberts concludes from these 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.799 experiments that these animals sought to satisfy immediate hunger needs 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:28.120 and weren't planning for future hunger. This is very unlike humans, 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.520 who often use reason and forethought to anticipate future needs, 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:33.720 from packing a snack and a drink for later to 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.479 investing in a retirement plan. So what about squirrels and 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:40.520 other animals that hoard food for the impending winter months. 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:44.920 That behavior seems to imply that the animals anticipate future needs, 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:49.200 but maybe that's not it studies have found that animals 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.800 don't stop hoarding even when their supplies disappear over and 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.560 over again. This could mean that the animals don't understand 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.600 why they hoard, what it means for their future, or 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.800 in what the future is. They simply do it out 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:06.920 of instinct. Humans, on the other hand, understand their preparations 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:10.080 and will quickly change strategies when their plans go awry. 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.960 If animals are stuck in time, as Robert suggests, this 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:19.480 could mean that understanding time is uniquely and fundamentally human. 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.920 Today's episode was written by Jane McGrath and produced by 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.120 Tyler Clang. For more on this a lot of other 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.360 curious topics, visit how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:35.920 is production of iHeart Radio or more podcasts. 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