Octopus VS Man - The Shell Game - Object Permanence Experiment

In today’s experiment, we take a look at the octopus’s ability to understand that an object is still there even when it is out of sight. Object permanence. We do this by providing Dennis, our octopus, with a fun little exercise. We show our octopus a delicious snack, and then hide it under one of the three cups. If he's still interested in locating the snack once it's hidden, it’s a good sign that he is aware that the fish is still there. Following the cup that contains the snack also shows us that he has a good concept of object permanence. This experiment also gives us an opportunity to observe how well an octopus is able to concentrate on a particular exercise without losing focus.

The trials shown in this video are the first five rounds for this particular octopus. We continued to run this exercise for a little over a month with three different octopuses. The results were fairly similar with each octopus.

In this video, we increase the number of moves by one each round.
In the first round, we make a single movement with the cups.
In the second round, we made two moves.
In the third round of this video, it was supposed to be three moves but the octopus got the best of the handler and snatched the fish away before he could manage to reset.
We repeated this in the fourth round and the final round was the most difficult trial, with a total of four moves.
The results at the end of the month were pretty convincing. We'll post them below for those of you that are interested in the details.

Correct Selections/Total Trials

Octopus 1
RD1 - 22/25
RD2 - 18/25
RD3 - 17/25
RD4 - 13/25

Octopus 2
RD1 - 20/25
RD2 - 19/25
RD3 - 15/25
RD4 - 12/25

Octopus 3
RD1 - 23/25
RD2 - 18/25
RD3 - 11/25
RD4 - 13/25

As the difficulty increased, so did the errors. There was no sign at any time that the octopus was not aware of the food's existence after it was hidden. Simply placing the cups in the experiment tank without showing them any food did not get their attention in any way after their initial interaction with the cups.

We hope you enjoyed this video and look forward to sharing more with all of you!

[northstarsmith]

I can just imagine Dennis rubbing his tentacles together like we rub our hands together in anticipation of a challenge. However, can we assume that he can just smell the cup the fish is under?

[ct.widget]

I love how he flicked his arms up before each attempt like " see, nothing up my sleeve, I got this!" No dummy!

[xXOFrannieOXx]

Must have been thinking: Silly human putting the cups up side down, let me correct that. And do it perfectly to. Didnt know an octopus could have a sence of humor. Good one

[pk_infone]

This octopus is smarter then me during any test

[debshep]

If Dennis started stacking those cups I was going to lose it!!!💖

[donnachaban]

I was a docent many years ago at Steinhardt Aquarium (now California Academy of Sciences). We always had fun playing hide & seek with the resident octopus. They are - as we know - smart and wiley.

[JWildberry]

I thought the shell game was impressive, and then I got to the end. He's better at tidying up after himself than most humans are!

[keithallver]

There is a thinking, reasoning mind at work. Octopus's are very interesting and unique creatures.

[marounazou]

This handler of yours must be quite a brave fellow...I would not dream of keeping my hand in a tank for so long with such a hungry and clever octopus as Dennis the Menace

[AvianX]

The syncing of the bass drop to the "dance moves" is beyond genius

[TNaizel]

The round it losts was the only round where you switched two empty cups. I think it got used to the fact that you always switched an empty cup and a cup containing the snack, when you left the cup containing the snack alone and switched two empty cups it got confused and started following the wrong one.

[NewMessage]

Now train HIM to run the grift, and he'll own the reef by Wednesday.

[mookyo]

Dennis is a bit of a perfectionist Hahahahaha loved that! Lol this is the coolest stuff! Nice job buddy!🐙😀✌

[peteskyrunner]

I like how he cleverly engulfs the whole of the bottom of the cup as if he were catching something in the wild in case the 'prey' is live. True intelligence there.

[Blaze-kots]

It’s a shame these amazing creatures don’t live very long

[davidid]

Although it may be I feel like it would be a better test if the octopus was unable to interact with the cups prior to the movement being finished. Like keep it in a separate glass container so that they can see and track the food but not get to it immediately. This would be a bit closer to real game, but this was still awesome to watch :)

[violetvalentine]

what a wonderfully conducted experiment! so much love goes into each & every one of these videos ;w; the shell game set piece is adorable!
this was so charming... goodness, the brilliance & curiosity of cephalopods never ceases to amaze me. (i LOVED how dennis reorganized the cups when he was done. now that is an octopus who does not take half measures!)
it makes me so happy that these creatures i adore so much are in such good hands as yours <3 thank you so much for all that you do for octopuses! i discovered this channel but a few months ago & it's already become one of my top favorites - looking forward to the next experiment in these octo-ventures! (gosh, they're so cute!!!)

[sandwitch]

He seems to shoo off! the human each game 😄.
I think he is helping prep the cups ready for another snack 😋

[teezkid]

Dennis clearly loves to play games. In the one with the puddy tat video, he didn’t like being ignored by the cat and did all he could to get cat’s attention. He even used psychology by hiding again…knowing that might pique the cat’s interest. Didn’t know the cat was asleep, though. 🐈 😁

[NKO_]

A another video displaying how smart octopuses are. Fantastic 🥰