In response to Stephen's post, yes, the "one" is Alex.
I also had a Quaker parrot that was given to me by a student whose boyfriend
disliked the bird intensely. I couldn't keep him because my children were
young and one of the things he had learned to mimic was the sound of his
previous owner's...um...sexual vocalizations ("oh my god" frequently escaped
his beak).Carol On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 10:09 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > On 19 Apr 2011 at 16:55, Carol DeVolder wrote: > > > I have spent a great deal of time around said bird [a pet African > grey]. He <snip> is amazing in his > > repertoire and learns after very few trials, but I don't believe he > > has astonishing cognitive abilities, nor do I believe that Alex had > > those abilities. <snip> > > > Turns out that pigeons can sort things into categories such as cars, > > chairs, flowers, and other categories with the same degree of accuracy > > as a 3-year-old. I see a big difference in the abilities of a bird as > > measured in an operant chamber and the abilities of one who is more of > > a performer than a subject ['tho on re-reading, I'm not sure of Carol's > intent with that last sentence. Is the "one" Alex?] > > Yes, pigeons can be trained. My favourite is a study (Watanabe et al, > 1995) showing that they can discriminate between cubist Picasso (the > guy who paints people with both eyes on one side) and impressionist > Monet (who paints blurry landscapes). They could even generalize to > correctly categorize other cubist and other impressionist painters. > > Of course, both are bird-brains (pigeon and African grey, not Picasso > and Monet), but what makes Alex's performance so amazing is that he > reports with language, as we do, rather than with key pecks. So we > have a tendency to give him more cognitive credit that perhaps he > deserved (or perhaps we give pigeons less than they deserve). > > Carol's post, and Paul Brandon's before, reminds me that we should > never let our skeptical side weaken, no matter how extraordinary the > demonstration. > > > Watanabe S, Sakamoto J, Wakita M. (1995). Pigeons' discrimination of > paintings by Monet and Picasso. J Exp Anal Behav.,63(2):165-74. > > -------------------------------------------- > Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. > Professor of Psychology, Emeritus > Bishop's University > Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada > e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca > --------------------------------------------- > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443341&n=T&l=tips&o=10124 > or send a blank email to > leave-10124-177920.a45340211ac7929163a0216244443...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > -- Carol DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 563-333-6482 This e-mail might be confidential, so please don't share it. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=10125 or send a blank email to leave-10125-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
