Abstract
According to the Source Monitoring Framework, the origin of a memory is remembered through the retrieval of specific features (e.g. perceptive, sensitive, affective signals). In two source discrimination tasks, we studied the ability of cuttlefish to remember the modality in which an item had been presented several hours ago. In Experiment 1, cuttlefish were able to retrieve the modality of presentation of a crab (visual vs olfactory) sensed before 1 h and 3 hrs delays. In Experiment 2, cuttlefish were trained to retrieve the modality of the presentation of fish, shrimp, and crabs. After training, cuttlefish performed the task with another item never encountered before (e.g. mussel). The cuttlefish successfully passed transfer tests with and without a delay of 3 hrs. This study is the first to show the ability to discriminate between two sensory modalities (i.e. see vs smell) in an animal. Taken together, these results suggest that cuttlefish can retrieve perceptual features of a previous event, namely whether they had seen or smelled an item.
Highlights
According to the Source Monitoring Framework, the origin of a memory is remembered through the retrieval of specific features
Can you tell whether you truly enjoyed your last holiday? According to the Source-Monitoring Framework (SMF), answering such a question requires you to revisit your personal past and retrieve specific features belonging to your memories
Travelling mentally back into one’s personal past is referred to as episodic memory, while retrieving specific features belonging to these episodic memories is a cognitive capacity involving source-memory processes
Summary
According to the Source Monitoring Framework, the origin of a memory is remembered through the retrieval of specific features (e.g. perceptive, sensitive, affective signals). Training ended when cuttlefish chose the correct panel according to the experimental condition at least 8 times out of 10 consecutive trials (Binomial test with 1/3 probability of success: p = 0.003, confidence interval: 0.44–0.97). Only panels associated to visual and olfactory conditions were placed in the tank to test cuttlefish ability to retrieve whether they smelt or they saw the crab before (Fig. 1b; for details see Methods).
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