If we start granting the "sense of the future" to the acorn, I'm going
NOMAIL for a week...  ;)

Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kenneth M. Steele [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 2:38 PM
> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
> Subject: Re: Student's question
> 
> 
> 
> Perhaps it is a symbiosis, the trees are offering the acorns to 
> the squirrels, and we have to grant a sense of the future to oak 
> trees also.
> 
> Ken
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> On Tue, 30 Oct 2001 12:16:09 -0800 Harry Avis 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> > Assume that squirrels have evolved a behavior pattern - see 
> acorn bury it. 
> > Then come Winter and Spring, squirrel is hungry and smells 
> the acorn in the 
> > ground. I don't have the reference, but I recall reading 
> that squirrels are 
> > absolutely lousy at finding acorns they have buried (no 
> episodic memory?). 
> > Their lack of episodic memory is, however, great for oak trees.
> > 
> > Harry Avis PhD
> > Sierra College
> > Rocklin, CA 95677
> > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > 
> > Life is opinion - Marcus Aurelius
> > There is nothing that is good or bad, but that thinking 
> makes it so     - 
> > Shakespeare
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > >From: "Patrick O. Dolan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >Reply-To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" 
> > ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >Subject: Re: Student's question
> > >Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 14:29:51 -0500
> > >
> > >Not sure what you mean by sense of the future, but you may 
> be able to
> > >explain squirrel behavior without assuming they have some 
> complex sense of
> > >the past and future. However, Nicole Clayton has suggested 
> that birds
> > >display episodic-like memory because they not only 
> remember the spatial
> > >location of previously stored food, but are also sensitive 
> to temporal
> > >factors, as if they remember "when" they were stored and 
> know whether or 
> > >not
> > >the perishable larvae are still good and worth digging up. 
>  See Clayton, N.
> > >S. & Dickinson, A. (1998).  Episodic-like memory during 
> cache recovery by
> > >scrub jays.  Nature, 395, 272-273.  Neat stuff.
> > >
> > >Patrick
> > >
> > >********************
> > >Patrick O. Dolan
> > >Department of Psychology
> > >Drew University
> > >Madison, NJ  07940
> > >973-408-3558
> > >[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >********************
> > >
> > >----- Original Message -----
> > >From: "Michael Sylvester" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" 
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > >Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 1:31 PM
> > >Subject: Student's question
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > do squirrels have a sense of the future since they can 
> store nuts
> > > > at the base of certain trees and return the following 
> day to retrieve
> > > > them?
> > > >
> > > > Michael Sylvester,PhD
> > > > Daytona Beach,Florida
> > >
> 
> Ken
> 
> ----------------------
> Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D.                [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Dept. of Psychology
> Appalachian State University
> Boone, NC 28608
> USA 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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