Study reveals rats show regret

The only reason why this headline caught my attention is that it made be wonder how on earth can you scientifically identify 'regret' in a rat!
This link explains how;

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-reveals-rats-cognitive-behavior-thought.html

So rats really do seem to have something we can call 'regret'! ( but possibly a more rudimentary form of it than our regret because they may not have the same conscious awareness of this state of the brain? -I assume science will one day tell us but not any time soon )

Originally posted by humy
The only reason why this headline caught my attention is that it made be wonder how on earth can you scientifically identify 'regret' in a rat!
This link explains how;

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-reveals-rats-cognitive-behavior-thought.html

So rats really do seem to have something we can call 'regret'! ( but possibly a more rudimentary form of ...[text shortened]... eness of this state of the brain? -I assume science will one day tell us but not any time soon )

Based on the write up from your link I think they've demonstrated it. They seem to have measured the rats brain activity and claim that it represents what they should have done to get the nicer food rather than the missed food itself. The article didn't say how they reached that conclusion. Since this is essential for learning I don't really get why it's such a surprise.

I don't think that they have demonstrated equivalence to human regret, since we can regret actions which do not harm us, but cause loss to another.