Animal metacognition? It's all in the methods.
When animals choose between completing a cognitive task and "escaping," proper interpretation of their behavior depends crucially on methodological details, including how forced and freely chosen tests are mixed and whether appropriate transfer tests are administered. But no matter how rigorous the test, it is impossible to go beyond functional similarity between human and nonhuman behaviors to certainty about human-like consciousness.
Shettleworth
Sara J
SJ
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 3G3, Canada shettle@psych.utoronto.ca sutton@psych.utoronto.ca http://psych.utoronto.ca/~shettle/ http://psych.utoronto.ca/~sutton/
Sutton
Jennifer E
JE