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Miscellaneous Corn Snake Discussions This is a "none of the above" forum. All posts should still be related to cornsnakes in one form or another, but some slight off topic posting is fine.

Corn Snake Intelligence study...
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Old 05-16-2003, 12:49 PM   #1
CowBoyWay
Corn Snake Intelligence study...

New findings suggest that when it comes to learning and cognition, the humble snake may be quite a bit more like humans than anyone had imagined.

David Holtzman, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester, has found that snakes have a much greater capacity for learning than earlier studies had indicated.

His research also indicates that, like humans, many snakes rely on sight to get around, and that older and younger snakes differ in how they gather and decipher information about the world around them.

As reported in the January, 1999 issue of Animal Behaviour...


"If your snake seems unwilling -- or unable -- to learn, you may be tempted to blame the reptile. Watching as your prized rattler is stumped by the maze that your pet mouse navigates easily, you may conclude that some animals are just born dumb. But a new study shows that while the slithery set may never get through a maze, they really do have student potential. They just need teachers who understand them, and the things that motivate them -- like the desire to get the hell out of big, bright open spaces.

David Holtzman, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester, conducts research into reptile intelligence. He found that decades-old studies that rated snakes as less intelligent than mice and rats weren't fair. Snakes just don't encounter anything like a maze in nature.

"Studies that said snakes couldn't learn well put snakes through mazes, which they didn't learn as well as mice or rats," Holtzman says. "But that's asking the [snake] to do something...not natural to do." So Holtzman and his research team designed a "natural" snake task to test how well snakes could learn spacial skills.

They took 24 corn snakes and put them, each by themselves, into a two-metre wide (2 yard) plastic tub with a one-metre (3 feet) high rim.
The tub's sides were too high for the snakes to climb out, but there were eight holes cut out in the bottom -- one of which led to a hidden shelter.
The escape hole was landmarked with a brightly-coloured card mounted on the tub's walls. Tape was also placed on the floor to provide a tactile pointer.
The team then "motivated" the nocturnal snakes to find the shelter by placing the tub -- already uncomfortable for snakes, which don't like being in large open spaces -- under bright light.

"We used an escape motivation because if we had used food, the snakes could have detected it with their eomeronasal system [a type of chemical sensing perceived through the snake tongue]," Holtzman explains. "We designed the task to eliminate chemical cues and just test learning."

The scientists then trained the snakes to learn and remember which hole led to shelter, by guiding them to the hole with their hands. The results: the snakes learned fairly quickly how to escape.

"After four trials per day for four days, the snakes would go more directly to the right hole," Holtzman says.
"On average, they take over 700 seconds to find the correct hole on the first day of training, and then go down to about 400 seconds by the fourth day of training. Some are actually very fast and find it in less than 30 seconds."

The researchers also found that it was harder to teach old snakes new tricks. The older snakes seemed to rely more heavily on visual cues, becoming befuddled if the coloured cards were tampered with.

"Younger snakes were more variable in the cues they used, while old snakes were more restricted," Holtzman notes .

So does all this mean we could train a bunch of super snakes -- or teach snakes to become domesticated?
"No," Holtzman says. "But this shows they're not just dumb animals wandering around aimlessly."

It also shows that snakes use similar brain mechanisms to learn as people. That's a conclusion that could have important implications, because snakes and other reptiles have an unrestricted ability to grow new brain cells throughout their lifetimes.

Humans, meanwhile, can only produce limited numbers of new brain cells in the hippocampus, which controls memory and spatial perception.
"What regulates reptile brain growth?" Holtzman asks.
"If we find out, it may help us produce brain growth in people with degenerative brain diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's." Seems the "simple" snake has a lot to teach us, after all.
Holtzman's findings are reported in the January, 1999 issue of Animal Behaviour"
http://www.rochester.edu/pr/releases/bcs/snake.htm
http://www.lasuerte.org/omesnakes.htm
 
Old 05-16-2003, 03:48 PM   #2
bmm
I don't see what they feel the figured out....

Basically they proved a snake can remember where his own hole is. I am surprised they didn't do something more involved. I mean its a great article...but witnessing a snake using visual clues to remember the correct hiding spot happens everyday, here and in the wild.

Maybe I am missing something.....

bmm
 
Old 05-16-2003, 04:05 PM   #3
Rich Z
Heck, I've always thought my corns were rather smart.

For instance, my procedure for the young snakes is to clean out their cages first pass, then go through and feed them all the second pass. They KNOW this. They do not go into feeding mode the first time through, but the second time that lid comes off, watch out! They know that's when the food is coming.

And if one figures out how to get out of it's cage. It will continue to do so until you fix the problem. I had one that figured out how to push up the top enough to slide it forward, leaving a gap. I would put it back into the cage and stand there and watch it do the same darned thing. So even though it took it a while to figure out how to do it, once it learned it, it was something it now knew how to do.
 
Old 05-16-2003, 04:13 PM   #4
CAV
Amen to playing the "escape game". I have one that has out-thunk me several time on new ways to get out. It is like playing chess, "If I do this, then he will do that, so I'll do this". (Add a beer or two to this equation and it can be just sad to watch)
 
Old 07-07-2004, 10:11 PM   #5
SexyHero
I can't believe how dumb these "scientists" think snakes are! I have always thought them to be very smart, and hello?! They are famous for escaping where they don't want to be! This test just proves what every snake enthusiast already knows! silly humans!
 
Old 05-19-2005, 02:29 PM   #6
myst
smart

OK, smart snakes can be scary. I've enjoyed watching my two cornsnakes find ways to slither up to the top of the aqaurium and lay out on the rim. When they were small they used the wire of the temperture gage. Then they used the bowl. Now they are long enough to reach the top without any asistance. It's deffinetly time for a bigger tank. Can't wait to see what the will use next.
They also know the day and time now that I feed them and seem to be ready to use the opportunity to slither right out of the tank. This is a tide frightening not to mention them looking at my fingers as if they were juicy pinkys.
I've read about those who have been bitten saying it's just a shock more than any thing but this is ridiculous. THe bit about them being in a s shape before they strike does not describe my genious's. Talk about using fear tactics. They will be slithering and then out of the blue jerk and stare you right in the eye. Striking at least would seem normal but these little terds like to just freak you out.
 
Old 05-23-2005, 07:23 AM   #7
HeatherP
Quote:
Originally Posted by CowBoyWay
David Holtzman, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester, conducts research into reptile intelligence. He found that decades-old studies that rated snakes as less intelligent than mice and rats weren't fair. Snakes just don't encounter anything like a maze in nature.

"Studies that said snakes couldn't learn well put snakes through mazes, which they didn't learn as well as mice or rats," Holtzman says. "But that's asking the [snake] to do something...not natural to do." So Holtzman and his research team designed a "natural" snake task to test how well snakes could learn spacial skills.

Umm, rats and mice encounter mazes in the wild?? I always thought where a rat/mouse can go a snake can surely follow, if he/she wants too that is.
When will people just assume that if it has a functioning brain it is capiable of intellience? Not to say that they will use it, just that they are capiable, look at all the stupid people in the world
 
Old 05-23-2005, 12:42 PM   #8
TBurkeIII
my snakes actually learned how to clean their own cages and refill their waters. what does the University of Rochester have to say about that....? Mazes and holes my ass!
 
Old 05-23-2005, 02:31 PM   #9
dionythicus
Did they put the snake into the maze directly after the mouse? I'll bet the snake would make short work of that maze in pursuit. It just takes the right motivation.

Mouse: "What's my motivation for this scene?"
Answer: "The cheese at the end of tha maze."

Snake: "What's my motivation for this scene?"
Answer: "The mouse eating the cheese."

Zzzzziiiiiiipppp! Slurp!
 
Old 05-23-2005, 04:33 PM   #10
A_Mc
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBurkeIII
my snakes actually learned how to clean their own cages and refill their waters. what does the University of Rochester have to say about that....? Mazes and holes my ass!
............................................
I was wondering why I kept getting RodentPro deliveries when I hadn't ordered anything........
Seriously, though--I have an amel that 'greets' me every morning when I get home....she seems to know my schedule and is always waiting for me at the front of her viv. After I say 'hello', she goes back into her hide and stays there all day.
 

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