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COMPREHENSION OF “ABSENCE” BY AN AFRICAN GREY PARROT: LEARNING WITH RESPECT TO QUESTIONS OF SAME/DIFFERENT
Author(s) -
Pepperberg Irene M.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1988.50-553
Subject(s) - similarity (geometry) , artificial intelligence , comprehension , pattern recognition (psychology) , communication , psychology , computer science , cognitive psychology , image (mathematics) , programming language
An African Grey parrot, Alex, learned to report on the absence or presence of similarity and difference between two objects. Alex was shown pairs of objects that were (a) totally dissimilar, (b) identical, or (c) similar or different with respect to one of three attributes (color, shape, or material). In the first two cases, he responded to the respective queries of “What's same?” or “What's different?” with the vocalization “none,” and in the third case he responded with the appropriate category label (“color,” “shape,” or “mah‐mah” [matter]). His accuracy was 80.9% to 83.9% for pairs of familiar objects not used in training and 72.5% to 78.4% for pairs whose colors, shapes, and materials were unfamiliar. The data provide evidence that this parrot's abilities are comparable to those of mammals that have been trained to report on the presence or absence of objects or features of objects.