Like us, I wonder if other animals are kept awake by embarrassing memories

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• AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I don’t think it’s ever been conclusively proven that other animals have episodic memories. (Although it’s very hard to distinguish between actually replaying an experience vs learning the relevant information in a more general way.)

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  • OmegaMouse@pawb.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    That’s fascinating. Does an animal finding an item they buried a week ago not constitute an episodic memory? Considering they’d basically have to retread their steps. Is ‘remembering the relevant information’ not akin to memory of an event?

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    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      The most suggestive study I’ve seen was of squirrels (or maybe birds), who re-bury nuts at a later date if other squirrels were watching them bury the nuts initially. But it can still be argued that they’re just keeping a mental map with some nuts marked as “need to move” without remembering the specific experiences that made them concerned.

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    • Godort@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Squirrels are known for storing large amounts of nuts all over the place, hense the term “squirreling away” but they often forget about stores, leading to new trees sprouting

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• Flemmy@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Back in my dogyears on my first fulltime job the office assistant wanted to shake my hand close to the coathangers so I handed her my backpack.

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  • OmegaMouse@pawb.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Lmao that’s amazing. If I were that person I’d had found it funny. Hopefully it’s not too embarrassing a memory for you!

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    • Flemmy@lemm.ee ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      It’s been well digested by now it’s a fun memory since it was for 6 months then moved on. Years ago.

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• CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  If any are, I bet crows are among them.

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