Is man no more than this?: Evaluative bias in interspecies comparison

Forgetting functions

“…In laboratory procedures for measuring the accuracy of spatial memory (over short delays), the performance of Clark's nutcracker is superior to low-altitude corvids and pigeons (Olson, 1991). In studies in which the memory performance of different species is similar, however, the similarities are more likely to reflect the structure of the task or the procedures (White, Juhasz, & Wilson, 1973), just as the differences may reflect the impact of procedural factors or task requirements (Macphail, 1996). In an evolutionary context, remembering is an adaptive reflection of environmental demands.…”

Remembering and forgetting.

“…Research on human memory is wide ranging, and naturalistic and laboratory studies of remembering in nonhuman animals are covered by the field called comparative cognition (Roberts, 1998). Sometimes the different abilities reveal fascinating speciesspecific characteristics (Wasserman, 1993), and sometimes the species similarities owe to procedural limits (White, Juhasz, & Wilson, 1973). This chapter is more constrained in scope.…”

Animal models for screening new agents: a behavioural view.

“…A failure to do so invites the criticism made by White, Juhase & Wilson (1973) that 'it is as senseless to study the comparative abilities of man and spider to run a T-maze as it is to compare their performances at web-spinning'.…”

“…The aim in behavioural comparisons is therefore to choose indices that give roughly equal weighting to information which has been obtained from each of the species. A failure to do so invites the criticism made by White, Juhase & Wilson (1973) that 'it is as senseless to study the comparative abilities of man and spider to run a T-maze as it is to compare their performances at web-spinning'.…”

“…The notion of a scala naturae, an ordered hierarchy of organisms with man occupying the highest rank, has its origins in early scientific and philosophical thinking (see review by White et al, 1973). Although the concept of such a phylogenetic continuum has for some time been accepted as untenable (cf.…”