[HN Gopher] Monkeys can sense their own heartbeats
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       Monkeys can sense their own heartbeats
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 42 points
       Date   : 2022-04-16 14:41 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (theconversation.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (theconversation.com)
        
       | temptemptemp111 wrote:
        
       | 11235813213455 wrote:
       | Isn't it the case for all humans? as I'm writing this, I can just
       | sense each of my heart beats vibrations, I don't even need to put
       | my finger on my throat
        
         | praptak wrote:
         | I can sense my own heart beat only when it's strong after a
         | workout or in normal conditions but then my body has to be
         | really still. I can obviously always feel my pulse with my
         | fingers but that is cheating.
        
           | cameronh90 wrote:
           | I can see mine if I sit quietly. I am quite myopic and have a
           | lot of floaters, so maybe that's why?
           | 
           | But even in the dark, even if I can't consciously feel it, I
           | can somehow still sense it.
        
         | ben_w wrote:
         | I can even see it, close to the knobbly bit of my tibia on my
         | ankle, when I sit in the right posture.
        
         | OJFord wrote:
         | The article isn't saying 'wow, monkeys can do this amazing
         | thing we cannot', it's saying 'wow, monkeys have the awareness
         | of their heart beat, something that's integral to them, too'.
         | 
         | It's hard to phrase because obviously the claim isn't they
         | understand what it is etc.
        
         | jimkleiber wrote:
         | There's some research on interoception, I think with elite
         | athletes and others, to judge how well they can sense their own
         | heartbeat compared to other humans, and I think are much more
         | accurate. If I find the link later, I'll attach it.
        
           | WalterBright wrote:
           | If you exercise with a heart rate monitor, after a while you
           | don't need the monitor anymore. You know what your heart rate
           | is.
        
         | permalac wrote:
         | I hope so, otherwise I will need to see a doctor
        
         | callesgg wrote:
         | People who are unwell probably avoid focusing on their
         | interoception.
        
         | asveikau wrote:
         | I think some times I feel it more than others.
         | 
         | Certainly if it's beating fast I notice much more than resting.
         | 
         | I think at rest I tend to notice it indirectly, particularly
         | how it makes my body move or noticing it alongside a deep
         | breath.
        
           | vasco wrote:
           | A good heuristic for life: Whenever you think you can do
           | something or feel something more or better than average,
           | assume you don't.
           | 
           | If for some reason verifying it would actually impact your
           | life, try to find definite proof for it, but otherwise this
           | type of thinking is generally detrimental as you end up with
           | snowflake syndrome and will ignore meaningful statistics or
           | advice as "not applicable to you" when in all likelihood
           | you're just like everyone else.
        
             | asveikau wrote:
             | I think you misread me.
             | 
             | "some times more than others" means "more than other
             | times", not "more than other people". Meaning that there
             | are times I'm more sensitive to it than other times. It's a
             | sensation that fades into the background most of the time.
             | 
             | It would be totally insane for me to assume I'm especially
             | good at it.
        
               | vasco wrote:
               | I did totally misread you, and yes it did sound a bit
               | crazy, but now the joke's on me. I'll leave it up so that
               | the shame forces me to not jump to conclusions next time.
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | seanwilson wrote:
       | Must be fun coming up with ways to test ideas like this:
       | 
       | > We first got our monkeys to sit in chairs in front of a
       | computer screen and hooked them up to electrocardiograms to
       | monitor their heartbeats. Then we played videos of either a
       | yellow or green cloud bouncing up and down accompanied by beeping
       | sounds. Sometimes we would sync the bouncing and beeping to match
       | the monkey's heartbeat, and at other times they were out of sync.
       | 
       | > We then used eye trackers to measure how long the monkeys
       | looked at the images. If the monkeys had a sense of their own
       | heartbeats, they would find the in-sync bouncing less interesting
       | and novel than the out-of-sync bouncing and so would spend more
       | time looking at the out-of-sync image.
       | 
       | I wonder if you could get them to tap along or similar to a
       | sensor that was beeping to their heart beat where you made the
       | beep quieter and quieter until eventually silent.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | kazinator wrote:
       | Which monkeys? If they are ones that can already pass the mirror
       | test, this doesn't seem like anything astonishing.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_test
        
       | jjtheblunt wrote:
       | so can we primates, no?
        
       | practice9 wrote:
       | I wonder if they tested other animals like dogs or cats
        
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