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The Department of Philosophy Colloquium Series presents:
"Does an octopus have a mind, and if so, what is in it?"
Dr. Jennifer Mather (Psychology Department)
Thursday, March 14
12:15 p.m.
C620
Abstract: To look at an animal so different from us, we must use general definitions and explore where they take us, so ‘mind’ is here seen as a central entity of an animal that can be defined as ”thinking, feeling, perceiving and reasoning”.
Octopuses’ excellent vision is constrained, as they have lateral eyes and monocular vision, perceive plane of polarization of light but not wavelength (colour) and likely seldom use visual self-monitoring. Their excellent skin patterning system appear to be open loop, and the movement output system is controlled at several levels. These generally solitary animals are dominated by exploration, fear and problem-solving flexibility. They have a multi-step predator avoidance strategy and several actions that function for proactive information gathering, indicating a central controller that gathers, organizes, stores and then uses information.
Contact:
Bev Garnett | bev.garnett@uleth.ca | (403) 380-1894
