From ake@mira.net
The mirror test for self-awareness of animals—which assumes that if
animals recognise themselves in a mirror they are self-aware—rears its
head yet again
(4 March, p 27).
Unfortunately, human bias means there are serious flaws in the usefulness of
this test. A better design would be to use the animal’s primary sense instead of
our own. Imagine a group of canine scientists inventing a device that reflects
scent and holding it up to humans to see if they recognise their own smell. I
seriously doubt that a single human would pass the test. The dogs would be
forced to conclude that we aren’t self-aware, no matter how cute our antics.
Visual tests for self-awareness have been applied throughout animal cognition
research. For instance, the results of the mirror test on dolphins have been
inconclusive, but I bet clearer results would have been obtained had mechanisms
for reflecting “sonar images” been used instead.
