<p>This was an experiment I performed so no link to the event nor the scientist's interpretation which was in an old email I no longer have access to.</p>
<p>The first time, the spider cautiously approached the piece of grass before removing the debris. But the second time, it must have taken instead of, say, 15 seconds  to remove the grass it was less than 5 seconds and the spider appeared to act with &quot;annoyance&quot; which I realize is anthropomorphism.</p>
<p>But what is certainly true is that the spider did not behave completely like a machine -- events several seconds earlier appeared to have been remembered.</p>
<p>A scientist interpreted this as the result of the program for debris removal having been already loaded. This is quite interesting in itself if that is correct -- can we examine the spider's brain to see the difference between the &quot;loaded&quot; and &quot;unloaded&quot; state?</p>
<p>I think spiders specifically would be very easy to test to see how experience influenced their behavior. Perhaps older spiders are faster at web repair due to long-term memory.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-07T17:05:58.077Z
Can you provide a link or reference to the source of this anecdote and the scientist interpreting it?  Also, I don't see how remembering something makes it not a machine - my laptop is a machine, and has plenty of memory.
Arnon Weinberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-07T17:15:29.107Z
@ArnonWeinberg  it remembers and reasons based on the memory. No link, a very old email I no longer have.
releseabe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-08T02:19:07.890Z
@releseabe says "*it remembers and reasons based on the memory*". If I'm reading a magazine and I come across an expression in Latin, I'll wander upstairs, dig out my Latin/English phrase book, bring it back down, and then look up the expression.  A few minutes later, I encounter another phrase, and that one takes me only a few seconds to look up. The speed-up had nothing to do with reason, and barely anything to do with memory.
Ray Butterworth
<memory><animal-cognition>
Spider removing a piece of grass from its web -- very different behavior second time -- why?
releseabe
# Spider removing a piece of grass from its web -- very different behavior second time -- why?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-01-07)

This was an experiment I performed so no link to the event nor the scientist's interpretation which was in an old email I no longer have access to.

The first time, the spider cautiously approached the piece of grass before removing the debris. But the second time, it must have taken instead of, say, 15 seconds to remove the grass it was less than 5 seconds and the spider appeared to act with "annoyance" which I realize is anthropomorphism.

But what is certainly true is that the spider did not behave completely like a machine -- events several seconds earlier appeared to have been remembered.

A scientist interpreted this as the result of the program for debris removal having been already loaded. This is quite interesting in itself if that is correct -- can we examine the spider's brain to see the difference between the "loaded" and "unloaded" state?

I think spiders specifically would be very easy to test to see how experience influenced their behavior. Perhaps older spiders are faster at web repair due to long-term memory.

**Tags:** memory, animal-cognition

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can you provide a link or reference to the source of this anecdote and the scientist interpreting it?  Also, I don't see how remembering something makes it not a machine - my laptop is a machine, and has plenty of memory.  
> **username_0**: @ArnonWeinberg  it remembers and reasons based on the memory. No link, a very old email I no longer have.  
> **username_2**: @username_0 says "*it remembers and reasons based on the memory*". If I'm reading a magazine and I come across an expression in Latin, I'll wander upstairs, dig out my Latin/English phrase book, bring it back down, and then look up the expression.  A few minutes later, I encounter another phrase, and that one takes me only a few seconds to look up. The speed-up had nothing to do with reason, and barely anything to do with memory.  

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## 0 answers

