Cagemate rats can feel each other's pain

And I wanted to study virology (microbial-eletronics kind of deal) when I was a little girl, but was too upset at the idea of disecting animals, even though I appreciate the benefits.

"In response, the mice displayed a subclass of empathy known as "emotional contagion," where one mouse recognizes and adopts the emotional state of another. Surprisingly, this only occurred if the mice knew each other—that is, if they had been cagemates for at least two weeks. This is the amount of time required for a mouse to familiarize itself with the pheromones of another mouse, according to Mogil."

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/07/mice_can_feel_cagemates_pain.php

You think a lot, don't you... LOL

Originally posted by debbiejo
You think a lot, don't you... LOL

Originally posted by debbiejo
You think a lot, don't you... LOL

if empathy is a new "higher" form of intelligence/awareness, and rats can feel each other's pain...

Originally posted by §P0oONY
If you'd really call it thinking.

😎

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
if empathy is a new "higher" form of intelligence/awareness, and rats can feel each other's pain...

OR maybe we can feel each other's pain b/c we were former cage mates???

oh dear.

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
😎

🙁

Originally posted by Robtard
🙁

haaaaha, i saw that already, cute.

I would think most animals would feel some connection to others of their kind being killed or hurt right in front of them. Thats instinct I think, and to then know they may be next.

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
Cagemate rats can feel each other's pain . . .

But can they switch souls?

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
And I wanted to study virology (microbial-eletronics kind of deal) when I was a little girl, but was too upset at the idea of disecting animals, even though I appreciate the benefits.

"In response, the mice displayed a subclass of empathy known as "emotional contagion," where one mouse recognizes and adopts the emotional state of another. Surprisingly, this only occurred if the mice knew each other—that is, if they had been cagemates for at least two weeks. This is the amount of time required for a mouse to familiarize itself with the pheromones of another mouse, according to Mogil."

http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/07/mice_can_feel_cagemates_pain.php

How are you? This is very interesting.

Originally posted by The Black Ghost
I would think most animals would feel some connection to others of their kind being killed or hurt right in front of them. Thats instinct I think, and to then know they may be next.

good point, according to the article, the "lower" species don't, the connection that the rat's feel, according to the link, is chemical (exchanging pheromones).

Originally posted by Adam_PoE
But can they switch souls?

rats have souls? the only reason why they are hated is b/c of their ability to spread disease, great carriers, which also makes them quality lab-experiments. if a person wanted to containmenate a town, a rat would be at work, so, not sure about soul, but they can read chemicals and remember who that other rat was.

Originally posted by DARKLORDCAEDUS
How are you? This is very interesting.

Fine thanks 🙂 and yourself?

What do you find interesting about it?

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
if empathy is a new "higher" form of intelligence/awareness, and rats can feel each other's pain...

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
OR maybe we can feel each other's pain b/c we were former cage mates???

oh dear.

Are you arguing with yourself? (To make it worse, in text form.)

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
rats have souls? the only reason why they are hated is b/c of their ability to spread disease, great carriers, which also makes them quality lab-experiments. if a person wanted to containmenate a town, a rat would be at work, so, not sure about soul, but they can read chemicals and remember who that other rat was.

What you just did there was answer a question about souls by talking about disease spreading...do you even realize that?

You basically said that an object weighs 34 inches.

Here is another example:

Child: Mommy, why does daddy like to eat liver?
Mom: Well sweetheart, dad goes to work to pay for the house so we have a place to stay.

Now do you understand why people give you "guff"?

Originally posted by DARKLORDCAEDUS
How are you? This is very interesting.

Don't encourage her, that little stunt of yours just caused the board yet another 10-20 rant-posts. Use a little common sense in the future, would you walk into a starving grizzle's lair with 25 pounds ( 11.36 kilo, to the Euro-trash) of venison tucked under your arms?

No, seriously? Is that true? wow

Originally posted by Czarina_Czarina
if empathy is a new "higher" form of intelligence/awareness, and rats can feel each other's pain...

When did empathy become new? And for that matter when did it become the new "higher form" of intelligence?

And since mice/rats have been around a long time I don't think "new" qualifies.

And don't forget, it isn't that simple, we aren't talking about empathy like exists in humans and primates - as per the "sub-class" definition.

I think there was something somewhere saying that plants also know when you're hurting a plant nearby. It's nothing conscious, probably more of a self-preservation thing.

There is actually a pretty involved, and imho, a very interesting explanation for this that hits on other things like communications and imitation.

Needless to say, it has nothing to do with being "empathic" or other spiritual nonsense, but more with things called mirror neurons.

If you run, your motor cortex activates the communication with your leg muscles. If you watch someone run, your motor cortex has the exact same activation, however the action is surpressed. Basically, to interpret something as "running", your brain must make the same response as if you were to run. Now, replace "run" with any emotion. This ignores the obvious social dimension to emotions, which makes it somewhat different for emotions than it does for movement, but the idea is still the same.