{"id":{"repo_id":"montana-tech","oai_identifier":"oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-2161"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/montana-tech/oai:scholarworks.umt.edu:etd-2161","repository":{"repo_id":"montana-tech","name":"Montana Technology","base_url":"https://scholarworks.umt.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Uncertainty Monitoring in Sprague-Dawley Rats (Rattus norvegicus)","abstract":"Comparative psychologists have explored the metacognitive capabilities of rhesus monkeys, a capuchin monkey, an orangutan, a dolphin, pigeons, and rats. Previous research with rats has demonstrated inconsistent results (Foote & Crystal, 2007; Smith & Schull, 1989). In the current study, two Sprague-Dawley rats were tested in a tone-length discrimination task in which they were prompted to press one of two levers indicating \"short\" or \"long\" depending on the duration of a tone. They also had the option to opt out of some trials. If the subjects knew when they did not know the answer to the task, they were expected to opt-out more frequently as the difficulty of the task increased. They were also expected to demonstrate differences in accuracy for trials during which they could opt-out and trials in which they could not opt-out. Higher accuracies were expected on trials during which they could opt-out. One subject did not select the opt-out option during testing. The other subject did not use the opt-out option adaptively by opting out more as the difficulty of the stimulus discrimination increased. However, when comparing trials in which the subjects could not opt-out and those in which the subjects could opt-out, this subject demonstrated higher accuracies on trials in which he could opt-out. This provides some evidence that at least one rat knows when he does not know the answer to a duration-discrimination task. This experiment imparts clarification to previous research and provides further evidence for uncertainty monitoring among rats, lending greater understanding to the evolutionary development of uncertainty monitoring.","abstract_html":"Comparative psychologists have explored the metacognitive capabilities of rhesus monkeys, a capuchin monkey, an orangutan, a dolphin, pigeons, and rats. Previous research with rats has demonstrated inconsistent results (Foote & Crystal, 2007; Smith & Schull, 1989). In the current study, two Sprague-Dawley rats were tested in a tone-length discrimination task in which they were prompted to press one of two levers indicating "short" or "long" depending on the duration of a tone. They also had the option to opt out of some trials. If the subjects knew when they did not know the answer to the task, they were expected to opt-out more frequently as the difficulty of the task increased. They were also expected to demonstrate differences in accuracy for trials during which they could opt-out and trials in which they could not opt-out. Higher accuracies were expected on trials during which they could opt-out. One subject did not select the opt-out option during testing. The other subject did not use the opt-out option adaptively by opting out more as the difficulty of the stimulus discrimination increased. However, when comparing trials in which the subjects could not opt-out and those in which the subjects could opt-out, this subject demonstrated higher accuracies on trials in which he could opt-out. This provides some evidence that at least one rat knows when he does not know the answer to a duration-discrimination task. This experiment imparts clarification to previous research and provides further evidence for uncertainty monitoring among rats, lending greater understanding to the evolutionary development of uncertainty monitoring.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Angel, Leslie Anne"],"institution":"University of Montana","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2010,"date_issued":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2010-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:14:21Z","subjects":["duration discrimination","metacognition","rats","tones","uncertainty monitoring"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1142","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Angel, Leslie Anne"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Montana"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["duration discrimination","metacognition","rats","tones","uncertainty monitoring"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1142"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Comparative psychologists have explored the metacognitive capabilities of rhesus monkeys, a capuchin monkey, an orangutan, a dolphin, pigeons, and rats. Previous research with rats has demonstrated inconsistent results (Foote & Crystal, 2007; Smith & Schull, 1989). In the current study, two Sprague-Dawley rats were tested in a tone-length discrimination task in which they were prompted to press one of two levers indicating \"short\" or \"long\" depending on the duration of a tone. They also had the option to opt out of some trials. If the subjects knew when they did not know the answer to the task, they were expected to opt-out more frequently as the difficulty of the task increased. They were also expected to demonstrate differences in accuracy for trials during which they could opt-out and trials in which they could not opt-out. Higher accuracies were expected on trials during which they could opt-out. One subject did not select the opt-out option during testing. The other subject did not use the opt-out option adaptively by opting out more as the difficulty of the stimulus discrimination increased. However, when comparing trials in which the subjects could not opt-out and those in which the subjects could opt-out, this subject demonstrated higher accuracies on trials in which he could opt-out. This provides some evidence that at least one rat knows when he does not know the answer to a duration-discrimination task. This experiment imparts clarification to previous research and provides further evidence for uncertainty monitoring among rats, lending greater understanding to the evolutionary development of uncertainty monitoring."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Uncertainty Monitoring in Sprague-Dawley Rats (Rattus norvegicus)"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Angel, Leslie Anne"],"dc:description.abstract":["Comparative psychologists have explored the metacognitive capabilities of rhesus monkeys, a capuchin monkey, an orangutan, a dolphin, pigeons, and rats. Previous research with rats has demonstrated inconsistent results (Foote & Crystal, 2007; Smith & Schull, 1989). In the current study, two Sprague-Dawley rats were tested in a tone-length discrimination task in which they were prompted to press one of two levers indicating \"short\" or \"long\" depending on the duration of a tone. They also had the option to opt out of some trials. If the subjects knew when they did not know the answer to the task, they were expected to opt-out more frequently as the difficulty of the task increased. They were also expected to demonstrate differences in accuracy for trials during which they could opt-out and trials in which they could not opt-out. Higher accuracies were expected on trials during which they could opt-out. One subject did not select the opt-out option during testing. The other subject did not use the opt-out option adaptively by opting out more as the difficulty of the stimulus discrimination increased. However, when comparing trials in which the subjects could not opt-out and those in which the subjects could opt-out, this subject demonstrated higher accuracies on trials in which he could opt-out. This provides some evidence that at least one rat knows when he does not know the answer to a duration-discrimination task. This experiment imparts clarification to previous research and provides further evidence for uncertainty monitoring among rats, lending greater understanding to the evolutionary development of uncertainty monitoring."],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1142"],"dc:publisher":["University of Montana"],"dc:subject":["duration discrimination","metacognition","rats","tones","uncertainty monitoring"],"dc:title":["Uncertainty Monitoring in Sprague-Dawley Rats (Rattus norvegicus)"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:14:21Z"}