[IncreasePosts]

What would dog mental reflection even look like? "I should have chosen a different route when chasing that rabbit?"

I don't think there is any evidence for mental reflection at this moment, but the nature of reflection is that is entirely internal, and we don't really know in what manner dogs have cognition.

But, the trend seems to be that we only learn more about the inner lives of animals as time goes on. 100 years ago it was accepted that non-human animals were essentially automatons that didn't feel feelings or have emotions, or engage in any kind of thought, which we know now is not true.

[sorokod]

"What would dog mental reflection even look like?"

Maybe "I acted in a way that displeased my owner, next time I will not act that way".

[pdonis]

> "I acted in a way that displeased my owner, next time I will not act that way"

This kind of conditioning can take place without any mental reflection--we know this because humans can be conditioned this way without even being consciously aware of it.

This is not to say that the dog is unaware of having displeased their owner (which, as another poster pointed out, is in itself a form of mental reflection, although, as I responded, a very rudimentary one). It's just to say that the dog can be conditioned by this experience to not act that way next time, without being aware of it and without doing any mental reflection.

[sorokod]

Yes, could. Doesn't mean it must.

Your use of the word rudimentary implies some sort of spectrum, that makes sense to me.

[pdonis]

> Your use of the word rudimentary implies some sort of spectrum

Yes, it does. See my reply to abainbridge downthread.