Jul 5th, 2007
Apes, Speedy Learners, and new Brain Fitness Channel
Hi!
I’m happy to announce that we have just launched the first Brain fitness channel on Youtube. Today, I just found an exciting movie clip which has made a lot of buzz the last couple of days. It’s made by a German research group and shows how apes use water-spitting as a problem solving tool.
Problem solving is considered the most complex of all intellectual functions. According to the study published in Biology Letters this Tuesday, oran-gutans are not just flexible strategists, they’re also speedy learners.
In order to solve a complex problem one needs to think. That means to model the world around you, set goals and take action to reach those goals based on a strategy. Dr. Natacha Mendes and co-workers demonstrated that the apes have conscious ideas of how to solve complex problems - in this case: Getting a peanut out of the small vertical tube.
They showed that the apes considered different options to get the peanut and reached the goal through hypothesis testing, trial and error. After reaching the goal, the apes managed to get another peanut with ease. The ape gains experience and learns a successful strategy on how to reach the peanut.
The study tells us that apes really learn in the same way that we do through what researchers call the learning cycle. Dr. James Zull, Professor of Biology and Biochemistry at Case Western University tells in an insightful interview how learning consists of four phases, whether its humans or primates. See some of the interview notes of the conversation between Alvaro (AF) and Prof. Zull (JZ):
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AF: What is Learning? Can apes really learn in the same way we do?
JZ: Learning is physical. Learning means the modification, growth, and pruning of our neurons, connections–called synapses– and neuronal networks, through experience. And, yes, we have seen that apes go through the same Learning Cycle as we do, activating the same brain areas.
AF: How does Learning happen?
These are the 4 stages of the Learning Cycle.
1) We have a Concrete experience,
2) We develop Reflective Observation and Connections,
3) We generate Abstract hypothesis,
4) We then do Active testing of those hypotheses, and therefore have a new Concrete experience, and a new Learning Cycle ensues.
In other words, we 1) get information (sensory cortex), 2) make meaning of that information (back integrative cortex), 3) create new ideas from these meanings (front integrative cortex) and 4) act on those ideas (motor cortex). From this I propose that there are four pillars of learning: gathering, analyzing, creating, and acting.
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You can find the movie and many other selected clips in the new Brain fitness Youtube channel.
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[...] Andreas Engvig presents Apes, Speedy Learners, and new Brain Fitness Channel posted at Brain Health Blog. [...]
[...] Andreas Engvig presents Apes, Speedy Learners, and new Brain Fitness Channel posted at SharpBrains, saying, "Personal development for apes..." Wow... the ape in the video this post includes just may be smarter than I am! [...]
[...] You can learn more about cognitive skills and our ancestors at our recent post, titled Apes, Speedy Learners, and new Brain Fitness Channel, that shows the amazing abstract thinking skills of orangutans. Another related post on nature vs. nurture: Richard Dawkins and Alfred Nobel: beyond nature and nurture. Learn More about Brain Fitness Join our Message Boards Find the Right Program Tags: abstract thinking skills, Albert Galaburda, Allan Reiss, calculus, cognitive abilities, cognitive power, cognitive skills, David Dobbs, environment and experience, hard wired behaviors, Harvard, neocortex, New York Times, Stanford, theory of mind [...]
[...] Andreas Engvig presents Apes, Speedy Learners, and new Brain Fitness Channel posted at Brain Health Blog. How learning is important to reach our goals...and how apes and humans seem closer than we thought. [...]
Extraordinary!
What a great way to introduce problem solving to a class. I'm going to do an activity where I present this problem to the class in groups - and have them spend 5-10 minutes trying to figure out how to get the peanut. Then show them the video. My guess - most of them will not figure out the way to get the peanut...but will have a very memorable discussion of problem solving after they see the ape do what they could not! Thanks!
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