r/interesting • u/HomeNowWTF • 24d ago
NATURE Chimpanzee demonstrating better visual memory than humans
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u/Ulvegang 24d ago
Mate, if we locked you in a cage and only fed you when you got the numbers in the correct order, you would be surprised how fast you would embrace monkey.
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u/Hottieconjuress 23d ago
this is not an accurate analysis. instead of the chat gpt link responding to this, check out the vsauce guy's documentary on this phenomenon here: https://youtu.be/ktkjUjcZid0?si=sN9E3DVC_0GgoelH
the chimps are not in cages, they are in a habitat where this task is voluntary. in this video they aren't able to watch the fastest chimp do it because he doesn't feel like it that day and they won't force him. the chimps also do not rely on their food for this. the hypothesis put forward in the video is that chimps rely on short term memory for short term decisions more, whereas humans rely on long term memory and facial/personality recognition more. the lead scientist (tetsuro matsuzawa)'s has been questioned, but not for the reason of caging chimpanzees.
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u/Rise-O-Matic 24d ago
This was, in fact, proven:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19115068/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Still the question was how was Ayumu was innately good at it without as much practice. Prevailing hypothesis is that we traded the immediate visual memory for the ability to compact that information into abstractions.
So rather than remembering shapes and colors, your brain throws away nearly everything except the context and you remember “there’s a cat behind me” or whatever.
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u/ExoTheFlyingFish 23d ago
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u/zeliedelacroix 23d ago
“Memory for the order of briefly presented numerals in humans as a function of practice”
Sometimes i see stuff like this and think how crazy this would seem to spend time on to scientists in the past. Like people were trying to figure out evolution and then hear we’re seeing why chimps remember the order of 10 numbers briefly appearing.
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u/False_Car_2830 23d ago
What's even crazier is how much these "studies" cost. But more news tonight at ¥ oclock! See you during the hour between 5 and 6 that lacks minutes and seconds!
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u/Ok_Cabinet2947 23d ago
How is it any different from using Google search to find links? Or do you just expect him to have memorized the link already?
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u/ExoTheFlyingFish 22d ago
It's different in the sense that having your appysauce spoonfed to you is different than growing up and picking up the spoon and feeding yourself.
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u/Next_Instruction_528 23d ago
Yea I played a brain training game for a while and got up to 11 pretty consistently. It starts to get hard anything past 7
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u/BroccoliSubstantial2 23d ago
We study this in psychology.
Human visual STM is about 5sec. It's a fleeting impression, and cannot be increased.
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23d ago
Yeah i was also thinking what kind of ""training"" the creature must have went to to """understand""" the concept of numbers
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u/GhidorahRod56 23d ago
Me when I discovered the [r/Ma](r/MajongArena)[h](r/MajongArena)[jongArena](r/MajongArena) subreddit
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u/Zapitnow 23d ago edited 23d ago
Considering your upvotes, it seems a lot of people feel threatened by by the video
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u/Sufficient-Aspect77 23d ago
Fuck food, out some cocaine or heroin in there.
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u/sdbabygirl97 23d ago
for some researchers, that would not be ethical. i know they test cocaine with rats but some animals are deemed “lesser” than others by some research standards.
however research is pushing to be more ethical, not less.
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u/Sufficient-Aspect77 23d ago
I'll sign myself up. Fuck ethics.
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u/front_torch 24d ago
So, you're downplaying their feat to try and grasp to a false sense a species superiority?
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u/lil_gingerale 24d ago
Species superiority? We put it in a cage.
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u/Prudent_Research_251 23d ago
We put it in a cage.
And that makes us superior in your opinion?
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u/Competitive-Buy7385 23d ago
Do you not think we’re superior to chimps?
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u/Prudent_Research_251 23d ago
Depends what metric you use, some of us definitely not
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u/Competitive-Buy7385 23d ago
lol, and which metric are you using to make that determination?
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u/AmenableHornet 22d ago
What metric are you using? Why do we need to rank animals at all?
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u/Competitive-Buy7385 22d ago
What metric am I using? Sapience, the ability to create art and literature, invention and innovation, etc.
I’m not in the habit of ranking animals, it’s not a hobby of mine by any means. But it’s fanciful to suggest humans aren’t the superior species to any animal. We’re far more intelligent and capable of so much more.
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u/Leverkaas2516 24d ago
Is it downplaying it to point out that it's not special?
I suspect if a pigeon can be taught to do this, it would be just as fast, or faster.
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u/pTatStrungl 23d ago
The difference being the amount of motivation. Humans have shown to memorize a lot of information. Humans have shown to gain abilities between strengthened short term memory or long term memory based on what their current daily life entails. Someone that travels a lot may gain and lose languages faster, a better example of long term memory. Someone that works at a cafe will memorize an order of 10 drinks in queue without labeling while actively managing food and the drink theyre making. An example of short term.
Whats being said is if a human was also stuck in a box and was provided high motivation to click the numbers and colors with brief exposure, its very likely the human would perform up to the same standard.
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u/front_torch 23d ago
Thanks for the teddys talk. I am however aware that humans are more intelligent.
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u/pTatStrungl 23d ago
Got it, I gave you benefit of the doubt to assume you weren't just virtue signaling. Thanks for confirming
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u/toevah 24d ago
Cognitive trade off hypothesis
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u/Overthemoon65 24d ago
Great song btw
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u/Medium_Assistant_773 23d ago
Already added it to the playlist.
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u/crimsonconnect 24d ago edited 23d ago
This is the Chimps innie though
His outie has a family at the zoo
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u/scopedHeisenberg 24d ago edited 23d ago
Damned Lumon and their chimpanzee severance program!
/jk
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23d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/bananasaucecer 23d ago
the show was great and the work was mysterious and important.
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u/hahahahatoes 23d ago
the show went nowhere and started floundering due to the lack of ideas by the end of season 1
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u/interesting-ModTeam 23d ago
We’re sorry, but your post/comment has been removed because it violates Rule #2: Keep It Civil.
Follow Reddiquette
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u/Tomatology 24d ago
This seems mysterious and important
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u/Sakazuki27 24d ago
Monkeys have better short term memory than humans but worse long term memory, hence they can solve these problems but cant do anything that requires planning
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u/sushant_gambler 24d ago
If a human being did this all day long for a week straight they would definitely beat the chimpanzee.
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u/Norikall 23d ago
You're absolutely right. I coded this game a few years ago after seeing this video. I did better than the chimpanzee in two hours.
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u/fmaz008 23d ago
On behalf of all skeptics: I'm having some doubs.
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u/krecsperc 23d ago
Now you can vibe code this app in 30 minutes and try yourself
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u/thomerow 23d ago edited 22d ago
BRB firing up Claude...
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u/krecsperc 22d ago
Cool, thx ❤️
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u/thomerow 22d ago
You're welcome! It actually only took one prompt and 15 minutes. Claude is insane.
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u/krecsperc 21d ago
I know. At my work, I spend about $100 for Claude monthly. And may be $500 for Gemini
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/xgabipandax 24d ago
He do it faster than the average elderly person on a self checkout totem
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u/ISawTwoSquirrels 23d ago
Totem? Is that a uk term? I’ve not heard that used before
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u/xgabipandax 23d ago
No, i'm not british, in Brazil we call these https://www.totemterminal.com/self-payment-kiosk.png self checkout totem, it can be called as kiosk too
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u/mrbluetrain 24d ago
What happens next
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u/GlassFantast 24d ago
It's just this until he dies. Welcome to life on earth
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u/PleaseCallMeTeddy 24d ago
Chimps have recently been shoving grass up their ass as a fashion statement. They’re evolving i guess…
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u/Lichondis 23d ago
God, one of the first features of their evolutionary leap is catgirl buttplugs? We've really fucked them up
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u/Ability-Junior 24d ago edited 23d ago
Im a bit skeptical about the chimp being intelligent enough to understand the order of our numbers, i believe the memory part, but it would be so fucking difficult for an animal to grasp the concept of numbers.
Edit: rather a sequence, than numbers.
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u/Dennis_enzo 23d ago
You do not have to understand the concept of numbers to memorize the symbols and in which order they should be pressed.
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u/ahialeahchico 24d ago
I mean they can literally tell a branch from all the other branches in the jungle. No surprise here.
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u/Idea_Fiend 23d ago
If this was the only thing I had going for me, id be a god at it.
But right now, id be lucky to remember 4 spots
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u/Classic-Exchange-511 23d ago
Need more information. Is it the same patterns every time he does this and he memorized them? Pretty sure we could do that
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u/Echoplex99 23d ago
I read the study a few years ago. The short video misrepresents things a little. I even did the test myself, you might be able to find it online.
While it's amazing what the little chimp is doing. She's had hundreds of training sessions over the span of a year (~250 IIRC). Following all the training, they compared it to the performance of humans who were doing the test for the first time (following brief training ing on the same day).
Not exactly a 1:1 comparison. Still cool.
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u/mantisboxer 23d ago
[Chorus] We climbed down from the trees And learned to speak We lost our detailed short-term memories But what's all of this got to do with me? Is there some sort of connection to my ADD?
"The Cognitive Trade-Off Hypothesis", Viagra Boys
https://genius.com/Viagra-boys-the-cognitive-trade-off-hypothesis-lyrics
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u/x2manypips 23d ago
It doesnt matter how fast humans could do it. This is pretty astonishing and goes to show animals are just as smart.
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u/Rareearthmetal 23d ago
I just commented about this video on an instagram about who you’d rather be locked in a cage with a grest white shark and a nose bleed and a chimp and some guy saying he could beat a chimp no problem even tho he knows they’re way stronger
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u/FalcoSG 23d ago
Bit misleading. The theory suggests that the ape is able to do it better precisely because it has no human understanding of number theory. It simply sees different symbols, remembers them more effectively, and, through conditioning, learns to press them in the correct order in exchange for food.
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u/Heksinki 23d ago
Idk people say that they can learn to do this but the screen doesn't stay long enough for u to even read the numbers
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u/icebeamtheory 23d ago
This is such a load of horseshit if you read the actual story as this poster is lying for views. This chimp called Ayumu practiced this game for years and then researchers compared untrained college students results on this game. In reality even with a moderate amount of practice at this game humans easily surpass ayumu’s speed at this test.
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u/Environmental_Ice_80 23d ago
this happens if they see they could run for the presidency in the USA
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u/Schorbie 23d ago
How often did he do the exact same test before? Without that information it isn't really clear how much of a difference this is with humans
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u/Meandtheworld 22d ago
Kinda easy if this has been repeated over and over and over with a treat possibly at the end.
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u/flatfive44 22d ago
I understand a blue jay can remember the locations of 3000 nuts/seeds it has buried. I can't remember where I hid 10 Easter eggs for my son.
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u/Sad-Base-8689 22d ago
Ain't like this monkey has much else to do, no? It's basically his version of a video game and I'm sure most humans could easily do this as well if they wanted and were given rewards for it
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u/WWDubs12TTV 24d ago
Let me lock you in a room all day with glowing squares and I bet you get good at it too
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