Causal Reasoning in Rats

@article{Blaisdell2006CausalRI,
  title={Causal Reasoning in Rats},
  author={Aaron P. Blaisdell and Kosuke Sawa and Kenneth J Leising and Michael R. Waldmann},
  journal={Science},
  year={2006},
  volume={311},
  pages={1020 - 1022}
}
Empirical research with nonhuman primates appears to support the view that causal reasoning is a key cognitive faculty that divides humans from animals. The claim is that animals approximate causal learning using associative processes. The present results cast doubt on that conclusion. Rats made causal inferences in a basic task that taps into core features of causal reasoning without requiring complex physical knowledge. They derived predictions of the outcomes of interventions after passive… 
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