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Cited by 29Memory Processes and InfluencesMarine animal studies overviewMemory and Neural Mechanisms

Episodic-like memory in common bottlenose dolphins

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Davies, James R., Garcia-Pelegrin, Elias, Baciadonna, Luigi, Pilenga, Cristina, Favaro, Livio, Clayton, Nicola S.·2022·Current Biology
DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.032
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Abstract

Episodic memory involves the conscious recollection of personally experienced events, which has often been argued to be a uniquely human ability. 1–5 However, evidence for conscious episodic recall in humans is centered around language-based reports. With no agreed upon non-linguistic behavioral makers of consciousness, 6 episodic -like memory 7 therefore represents the behavioral characteristics of human episodic memory, in the absence of evidence for subjective experience during recall. Here, we provide compelling evidence for episodic-like memory in common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ), based on the incidental encoding and unexpected question paradigm. 8 This methodology aims to capture the incidental encoding characteristic of human episodic memory, in that when we recall an experience, we remember information that was trivial at the time of encoding, but was encoded automatically. 9 We show that dolphins are able to use incidentally encoded spatial ("where") and social ("who") information to solve an unexpected memory task, using only a single test trial per test type, which ensured that the dolphins did not have the opportunity to semantically learn "rules" to pass the test. All participating dolphins made correct choices in both the "where" and "who" tests. These results suggest that dolphins are capable of encoding, recalling, and accessing incidental information within remembered events, which is an ability indicative of episodic memory in humans. We argue that the complex socio-ecological background of dolphins may have selected for the ability to recall both spatial and social information in an episodic-like manner.

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  • Training animals to explicitly encode and report information in an anticipated memory test may result in the application of non-episodic mechanisms to solve these tasks.

    “That said, training animals to explicitly encode and report information in an anticipated memory test, as is required for what–where–when memory experiments, may result in the application of non-episodic mechanisms to solve these tasks [74,79–84].”

    From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [83]

  • Multiple non-human species are able to encode and recall incidental information within remembered events.

    “These studies demonstrate that multiple non-human species are able to encode and recall incidental information within remembered events, such as spatial locations [80,81,83,93,97,98], visual markers [92], the identity of experimenters [83], the presence (or absence) of food [74,82], odour cues [94], as well as aspects of their own [79–81,93,95] and other’s behaviour [96].”

    From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [83]

  • The recall of incidental social information in dolphins concerned human experimenters and was encoded visually, which does not represent cetaceans' natural social information and primary method of communication (auditory).

    “The recall of incidental social information is particularly interesting, as this concerned human experimenters and was encoded visually, which does not represent cetaceans’ natural social information and primary method of communication (auditory).”

    From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [83]

  • Dolphins have been demonstrated to be able to spontaneously recall information that was not trained to be attended to, representing both spatial and social information.

    “dolphins have been demonstrated to be able to spontaneously recall information that was not trained to be attended to, representing both spatial and social information [83].”

    From Is episodic-like memory <i>like</i> episodic memory? (2024) · cites this paper as [83]

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Authors
Davies, J. R., Garcia-Pelegrin, E., Baciadonna, L., Pilenga, C., Favaro, L., & Clayton, N. S.
Affiliations
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
  • University of Turin (IT)
Corresponding author
Davies, James R.
ORCID
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2022-08
Volume
32
Issue
15
Pages
3436-3442.e2
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.032
OpenAlex
W4287448784
Cited by
29
References
61
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2
FWCI
3.35
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Apollo (cc-by)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
episodic-like memory, Tursiops truncatus, incidental encoding, spatial memory, social memory, animal cognition, consciousness, comparative cognition
MeSH terms
Animals, Consciousness, Humans, Mental Recall, Bottle-Nosed Dolphin, Common Dolphins, Memory, Episodic

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