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标题: 世界上最聪明鹦鹉去世 智力等同5岁儿童 [打印本页]

作者: thesunlover     时间: 2009-12-14 18:48     标题: 世界上最聪明鹦鹉去世 智力等同5岁儿童

世界上“最聪明鹦鹉”去世 智力等同5岁儿童

现代快报


  亚历克斯是一只实验室中的非洲灰鹦鹉,然而当它在2007年9月去世时,却令整个世界都感到悲痛。原来,亚历克斯不是一只普通的鸟,它是世界上“最聪明的鹦鹉”。最近,它的女主人艾琳·佩普伯格在其回忆录《我和亚历克斯》中详细回忆了她和亚历克斯朝夕相处的无数个日夜,以及这只世界“最聪明鹦鹉”给她带来的友情和快乐。

  “最聪明鹦鹉” 智力等同5岁儿童

  这只名叫亚历克斯的非洲灰鹦鹉是美国马萨诸塞州布兰德斯大学副教授和哈佛大学动物认知学讲师艾琳·佩普伯格在1977年从一家宠物商店中随意买来的,当时,年轻的女博士艾琳建立了一个名叫“鸟类认知实验”的计划,这个计划的缩写就是ALEX,所以艾琳当时就给这个新买来的非洲灰鹦鹉起名为“亚历克斯”。

  在过去30年中,艾琳经常教亚历克斯“学知识”。令艾琳和她的同事们惊讶的是,亚历克斯具有令人吃惊的大脑智能,虽然它的大脑只有胡桃般大小,但它的智力却相当于一名5岁儿童,它的情商则和两岁儿童相似!

  会数数做数学题  至少会说150个单词

  艾琳在回忆录《我和亚历克斯》中称,亚历克斯能够从一数到六、能做简单的加法数学题,还能识别各种颜色和至少50种物体!艾琳曾多次在实验中将一堆不同颜色的小方块摆到亚历克斯面前,并问它里面各有多少个红方块或蓝方块,而亚历克斯总能计算出正确的答案。鹦鹉亚历克斯还能理解“零”的概念,同时它也知道“相同”和“不同”的概念,当艾琳将两个同样大小的物体摆到它面前、并问它哪个更大时,亚历克斯会回答:“一样大”。

  亚历克斯还至少能说150个人类的单词,然而艾琳称,她在过去30年的实验和研究中发现,亚历克斯并不仅仅只是“鹦鹉学舌”,它不但能够理解英语,能用英语表达自己的愿望,它甚至还学会了音节的使用,学会使用和自己创造一些短语,譬如它会说:“我想要某某东西”,或“我想去某某地方”。

  喜欢音乐舞蹈  打翻杯子会说“对不起”

  如果亚历克斯厌倦了“实验工作”,它就会对实验者爱理不理,自顾自地梳理羽毛,或者会说“我想回笼子里去”。艾琳称,当亚历克斯不慎打翻了一只咖啡杯,或者“说错了话”时,它还会说“对不起”进行道歉,这意味着亚历克斯知道在闯祸后说“对不起”可以降低别人的气恼情绪。

  亚历克斯还非常淘气,喜欢恶作剧。艾琳在书中写道:“当亚历克斯学会了某种东西的名称后,它就经常会索要这些东西,它会经常向学生们要这要那,譬如说:‘我想要玉米’或‘我想要坚果’,我的学生们都开玩笑称,他们简直成了‘亚历克斯的奴隶。’”

  此外,亚历克斯还喜欢音乐和舞蹈,当它听到音乐时,它的脑袋会跟着节奏上下摆动,它的脚爪也会和着节奏跳跃。

  爱“倚老卖老” 纠正同类“语音错误”

  虽然亚历克斯对于一再重复的“鸟类认知实验”充满了厌烦,但它却爱对大学实验室中的其他年轻鹦鹉们“倚老卖老”,它经常“好为人师”,爱纠正其他鹦鹉们的语音错误。比如,它经常会教训同一个实验室的其他两只鹦鹉说:“你说错了”、“请说得更清楚一点!”而当艾琳对其他鹦鹉表现出更多的关注时,亚历克斯就会非常嫉妒,甚至和她生气。

  生死相伴30年  每天对女主人说“我爱你”

  每当艾琳特别忧郁沮丧的时候,亚历克斯就会静静地陪伴在她身边,而不会再胡闹恶作剧。艾琳在书中写道:“它有时会逗我开心,对我说:‘给我挠痒痒。’然后它会将脑袋伸过来,从而可以让我的手能够刮擦它的脸。”

  艾琳永远也无法忘记亚历克斯突然去世的那天,那是她生命中最黑暗、最悲痛的日子之一。2007年9月6日晚上7点左右,艾琳在实验室中结束了一天的工作。艾琳在书中回忆说:“那天傍晚我和亚历克斯道别,它对我说:‘你真是太好了,我爱你。’我回答说:‘我也爱你。’亚历克斯问我:‘你明天还会来吗?’我回答说:‘是的,我明天还会来。’”

  世界主流媒体  争相为它登“讣告”

  然而亚历克斯再也没能等到明天见到它心爱的主人,当天晚上它就离开了这个世界。艾琳回忆说:“早晨我在家中检查电子邮件,看到了一封标题为《悲痛》的邮件,我感到浑身血液都仿佛结了冰,这封邮件是同事海耶斯寄来的,他称清洁工早晨进入实验室打扫卫生时,发现一只鹦鹉死在了笼子中,而那正是亚历克斯!接着海耶斯发来了第二封电子邮件,证实了我的恐惧。”

  艾琳赶到大学实验室,她和实验室主管在门口哭着拥抱在一起,因为亚历克斯对他们来说不是一只鸟,而是一个具有思维能力的孩子,是她们的朋友和家人。亚历克斯的尸体被实验人员包在了一件衣服里,艾琳悲痛得甚至不敢最后看一眼它的遗体。据称,亚历克斯可能是死于心律失常、心脏病或中风,它本来应该可以再活至少20年。

  亚历克斯的去世惊动了全世界,连美国《纽约时报》、《洛杉矶时报》、英国《经济学家》、《卫报》这些世界级媒体都争相为它刊登“讣告”,英国《卫报》的讣告写道:“亚历克斯,一只比许多美国总统还聪明的非洲灰鹦鹉,在31岁的盛年离开了人世。在它的粉丝们眼中,‘鸟脑’(意指笨蛋)这个词早就应该从人类字典中彻底删除。”
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作者: thesunlover     时间: 2009-12-14 18:49

world's cleverest parrot dies


He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of one-liners he established himself in television shows, scientific reports and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.

But last week Alex, an African gray parrot, died, apparently of natural causes, said Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of his life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.

Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the ability to learn human language. Alex’s language facility was, in some ways, more surprising than the feats of primates that have been taught American Sign Language, like Koko the gorilla, trained by Penny Patterson at the Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org in Woodside, Calif., or Washoe the chimpanzee, studied by R. Allen and Beatrice Gardner at the University of Nevada in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1977, when Dr. Pepperberg, then a doctoral student in chemistry at Harvard, bought Alex from a pet store, scientists had little expectation that any bird could learn to communicate with humans, as opposed to just mimicking words and sounds. Research in other birds had been not promising.

But by using novel methods of teaching, Dr. Pepperberg prompted Alex to learn scores of words, which he could put into categories, and to count small numbers of items, as well as recognize colors and shapes.

“The work revolutionized the way we think of bird brains,” said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College who works with dolphins and elephants. “That used to be a pejorative, but now we look at those brains — at least Alex’s — with some awe.”

Other scientists, while praising the research, cautioned against characterizing Alex’s abilities as human. The parrot learned to communicate in basic expressions — but he did not show the sort of logic and ability to generalize that children acquire at an early age, they said.

“There’s no evidence of recursive logic, and without that you can’t work with digital numbers or more complex human grammar,” said David Premack, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Pepperberg used an innovative approach to teach Alex. African grays are social birds, and quickly pick up some group dynamics. In experiments, Dr. Pepperberg would employ one trainer to, in effect, compete with Alex for a small reward, like a grape. Alex learned to ask for the grape by observing what the trainer was doing to get it; the researchers then worked with the bird to help shape the pronunciation of the words.

Alex showed surprising facility. For example, when shown a blue paper triangle, he could tell an experimenter what color the paper was, what shape it was, and — after touching it — what it was made of. He demonstrated some of his skills on nature shows, including programs on PBS and the BBC. He shared scenes with the actor Alan Alda on the PBS series “Look Who’s Talking.”

As parrots can, he also picked up one-liners from hanging around the lab, like “calm down” and “good morning.” He could express frustration, or apparent boredom, and his cognitive and language skills appeared to be about as competent as those in trained primates. His accomplishments have also inspired further work with African gray parrots; two others, named Griffin and Arthur, are a part of Dr. Pepperberg’s continuing research program.

Even up through last week, Alex was working with Dr. Pepperberg on compound words and hard-to-pronounce words. As she put him into his cage for the night last Thursday, she recalled, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.”

He was found dead in his cage the next morning, Dr. Pepperberg said.




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