THE UNCERTAIN RESPONSE IN THE BOTTLE-NOSED-DOLPHIN (TURSIOPS-TRUNCATUS)

Humans respond adaptively to uncertainty by escaping or seeking additi onal information. To foster a comparative study of uncertainty process es, we asked whether humans and a bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops trunca tus) would use similarly a psychophysical uncertain response. Human ob servers and the dolphin were given 2 primary discrimination responses and a way to escape chosen trials into easier ones. Humans escaped spa ringly from the most difficult trials near threshold that left them de monstrably uncertain of the stimulus. The dolphin performed nearly ide ntically. The behavior of both species is considered from the perspect ives of signal detection theory and optimality theory, and its appropr iate interpretation is discussed. Human and dolphin uncertain response s seem to be interesting cognitive analogs and may depend on cognitive or controlled decisional mechanisms. The capacity to monitor ongoing cognition, and use uncertainty appropriately, would be a valuable adap tation for animal minds. This recommends uncertainty processes as an i mportant but neglected area for future comparative research.