Hyperintelligent pandimensional beings

Dr Kishore Kuchibhotla, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the Times: ‘It can be quite frustrating. You’ll be doing an experiment and the [mice] just don’t seem to be getting it. You’ve done everything correctly but they still seem to be making lots of errors.’…

They created an experiment where thirsty mice could hear one of two sounds. When one sound was played, they were supposed to turn a wheel to the left using their front legs, and for the other sound, they had to turn the wheel to the right.

When the mice did this correctly, they were rewarded with a drink of water, and when they spun the wheel the wrong way, they were given nothing at all.

The researchers tracked mouse choice, response speed and accuracy, and noticed that over time the mice got better at the task, but at points, the mice would stop following the rules, and do things like spin the wheel in one direction, no matter what sound they heard.

The researchers then stopped rewarding the mice for their correct answers, and soon the rodents began responding to the sounds more accurately.

The researchers believed the mice knew what they were doing the whole time, and were purposefully giving up the reward to explore their environment by doing experiments of their own.