Chimpanzee Schools College Kids

Kyoto University researchers pitted monkeys against students, and the students lost. A chimpanzee named Ayumu has kicked some college kids’ butts at a simple task involving wrote memorization over a very short time span. The numerals 1 to 9 were shown on a screen in various spots, to be touched in order. The numbers are then replaced with white squares in the same spots, to be touched in the same order. The chimp reigned supreme. Monkey see, monkey do – better than you possibly can. Watch him work his magic.

When the numbers were displayed for about seven-tenths of a second, Ayumu and the college students were both able to do this correctly about 80 percent of the time.

But when the numbers were displayed for just four-tenths or two-tenths of a second, the chimp was the champ. The briefer of those times is too short to allow a look around the screen, and in those tests Ayumu still scored about 80 percent, while humans plunged to 40 percent.

(Read the original here.)

So…I suppose next time someone makes a monkey out of you, you should enjoy your heightened short term memory skills. Wish my short term memory had worked better during the JLPT last weekend. Oh well. Guess I’ll start eating more bananas. It’s a start. I guess I could study, too. Hmm.