Monkey smarter than people?

Chimpanzee (chimpanzee) has a memory of images that goes far beyond humans, according to Japanese researchers. Even chimpanzees do better than college students in memory tests (involving recalling the numbers on the screen, and remembering the sequence of numbers) by scientists. Japanese drafted.

Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University and colleagues gave three five-year-old chimpanzees a test with about ten college students in a test involving numbers. These chimpanzees were taught "counting" from 1-9. In the experiment, each object was introduced with many digits from 1-9 on a tactile screen. Then the digits are replaced with white squares and the object must remember which number appears at which position, then touch the appropriate square.

Chimpanzees show that they do more accurately than humans . In particular, the chimp named Ayumu was also allowed to participate in quick memorization tests and all won against the students. The researchers believe that this is evidence that chimpanzees have memory of images, allowing them to remember a complicated pattern in the blink of an eye. This sometimes takes place in children but decreases with age, according to scientists.

Published in Current Biology , these findings suggest that we have underestimated the intelligence of the animals most closely related to us. So far, people have thought that chimpanzees cannot match humans in terms of memory and other mental skills. "There are still many people, including many biologists, who believe that humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions" - according to Matsuzawa researcher.

Ayumu chimpanzees have a better memory than humans (Photo: AP)

Q.HONG