Category: PROJECT 3

I began my research by broadly looking into different types of animals and how animal behaviorists, psychologists and other scientists and researchers viewed each animal’s respective intelligence level. Each animal was given a short description and it mentioned their strengths along with some common misconceptions. I narrowed it down to animals I was interested in because of their form for sculpture or because I generally liked it. I began researching raccoon’s intelligence, as I find them both cute and incredibly nimble and crafty, which led me to an American Psychology Association article on raccoon intelligence. As most people would expect, raccoons are very sneaky, craft and nimble. They have good use with their hands, however, two separate researchers running separate observations and experiments found raccoons have an intellect closer to cats due to their swiftness with solving puzzles and different problems as well as the amount of time they remember the solution for those puzzles. I wanted to research further and try to look at more animals, like cats, which were interesting but ultimately I decided to use raccoons for my projects. Despite the reputation raccoons and animals as a whole receive as lesser life forms compared to the human race, raccoons are intelligent, crafty, resilient, resourceful and agile creatures who adapt to their environment no matter what. Throughout generations of humans changing the world around them, they find steady sources of food and have adapted to survive and thrive in their conditions. 

Charlotte Kenyon

Charlotte Kenyon

200 word response: I watched the video linked in the google charts about Dog MRI’s. This video was about a scientist who studied the activity in a Dog’s brain that is linked to rewards. The dogs went through training to learn hand signals that meant food, which is a reward for dogs. This was a very difficult subject to study, because it meant the dogs had to be completely still in the MRI machines, which even humans sometimes struggle with. After many trials, the scientist found the area of the brain focused on reward is the caudate nucleus. In the MRI, there is no physical food present, but with the hand movement signifying food is present, the dog responds emotionally to that, activating the part of the brain relating to rewards, which is then shown on the screen of the MRI. The study found that the area of a dog’s brain that lights up for reward is the same part of the brain that is activated when humans think of rewards such as money or food. This is revealing a dog’s complex thought chain, and showing that humans did not give dogs, and other animals, enough credit for their sophisticated brains. 

Thesis:  Dog’s intelligence is highly underestimated by humanity, and the continuation of extensive research on dog’s brains through MRI’s use can give more information about how their brains function. Exploration of how a dog’s brain works can apprehend more insight about which parts of the brain activate during certain responses. Ultimately, humans can learn far more about animal brains and intelligence, by acknowledging their sophisticated and complex ways of thought.