Scientists recently discovered that pigs could be trained so they can play video games, and they discovered such by demonstrating the potential of the said animals for a notable level of both mental and behavioral flexibility.
A BBC report showed a channel of information on the so-called "piggy players," which they got from a study that came out in a journal entry on Frontiers in Psychology.
The research study presents in detail, an investigation of whether pigs have the capability of playing a video game task that's joystick-operated, involving four pigs namely "Hamlet, Omelet, Ivory and Ebony."
The four pigs, as seen in the video posted on Universal Information & Entertainment TV's YouTube channel, were trained to move a joystick using their snouts in order to steer a cursor on screen. The said pigs were required to move the on-screen cursor in order to make contact with targets which are randomly positioned. These animals were given a reward when the cursor collided with a specific target.
Cognitive Behaviors Studied
According to a report from IGN Southeast Asia, referring to their research findings, the study authors noted the pigs showed a "high level of social motivation to perform a task," and kept on playing the game even when a reward of food was not allotted because of social encouragement from their trainer.
The study's lead author, Dr. Candace Croney said, this kind of research is essential since, like many other sentient creatures, how humans interact with pigs and what they do to them affects and matters much to them.
Analysis of the data from the gaming sessions presented that neither Omelet nor Hamlet attained considerable performance on what was described in the study as "three-walled targets" but performed "above chance" on one- and two-walled targets, that have 78 and 70 percent favorable responses on the latter-mentioned.
The researchers also found that Ebony and Ivory were both successful than expected "by chance on three-walled targets," although they had a bigger gap in gap in terms of one-walled targets.
Ability to Acquire the Joystick-Operated Video Game Task
Ultimately, the study investigators got satisfied that the pigs had the capacity and ability to acquire the joystick-operated video game task, although they noted too, that future research into domestic species' cognitive behaviors may benefit from the use touchscreen devices, or any other computer-operated technology because of dexterity to optical constraints as all four subjects, in this circumstance, were found to be farsighted.
Similar studies have been conducted engaging monkeys and chimpanzees, that have been proven to have more abilities and skilled, with their opposable thumbs and individually moving fingers, giving them such a benefit.
It stays unseen though, what might take place when a monkey is playing video games using its own mind. Commenting on this latest finding, observers said, SpaceX's Elon Musk might find the answer soon, as he used to claim that one of his companies has imbedded a device into the brain of a monkey, with the hope to make it play the "mind pong" game with another cyborg monkey.
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