Primate polemic: commentary on Smith, Couchman, and Beran (2014)

Abstract

Smith, Couchman, and Beran (2014, pp. 115-131) take issue with recent attempts to account for so-called metacognitive behavior in nonhuman animals in terms of simple processes of associative reinforcement learning. Their arguments rely on appeals to unconvincing and equivocal empirical evidence, and a misrepresentation of the nature of associative learning. Although the existing data do not rule out the possibility that animals possess "true" metacognitive abilities, neither do they currently mandate this conclusion. The suggestion that simple mechanisms might give rise to complex behaviors ties in with recent attempts in cognitive and social psychology, and behavioral neuroscience, to explain human behavior in terms of similar, simple mechanisms. As such this perspective should be seen as an opportunity for comparative psychology, not a threat.