The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Short Term Memory The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : Short Term Memory
Showing posts with label Short Term Memory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Short Term Memory. Show all posts

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Is it True that Chimpanzee Have Better Short-Term Memory Than Humans?


Scientists often talk about how primates are some of the smartest non-human animals, but very rarely do you hear about a species surpassing humans in a intellectual exercise.

A Japanese researcher, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, presented the remarkable capabilities of the chimpanzee Ayumu at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. So, what could Ayumu do that humans couldn’t? When a series of numbers were presented on a screen out of sequence and randomly placed, the chimpanzee was able to remember where the numbers were on the screen, and touch them in the correct sequence to count up from 1.

While only a small group of humans, known as savants, can display such good memorization skills, six out of six chimps were able to accomplish the task.

Scientists report that this skill would help them in their natural environment as they navigate through complex arrangements of tree branches and make other split second decisions in the wild.

Will this mental ability help strengthen the case against using animals in research? Seems ironic, since we know this ability was discovered through research.

Take a look at the video below and see it firsthand.




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