题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
上海市杨浦区2021届高三上学期英语期中试卷
The term "bird brain" is frequently used to describe a person's lack of intelligence and good decision-making ability. However, some scientists believe it should be considered a compliment, given that many birds can perform tasks that were once considered solely by humans. These include manufacturing and using tools, solving problems, and planning for future needs. Now, Griffin, an African Grey parrot, has proved that birds may even possess better visual memories than human adults and children.
The study, led by Harvard Professor Hrag Pailian, had the parrot compete in the shell game against twenty-one undergraduate students and twenty-one 6-to 8-year-old children. The popular challenge involves hiding a small object under one of three, or more, inverted cups or nutshells, which are moved around. Participants are required to accurately identify the cup under which the object lies.
The Harvard team began by placing different-colored balls under four cups and moving them around. To make the task more challenging, the researchers required participants to track two, three, and four balls at the same time. The cup positions were moved between zero to four times for each of the combinations. An analysis of the results showed that Griffin outperformed the 6-to 8-year-olds across all levels on average. Even more impressive, the "bird brain" performed as well as, or slightly better than, the 21 Harvard students on 12 of the 14 trials! It was only in the final two tests, which had the most balls and most movement, that the parrot fell behind the adults. However, Griffin's performance never fell below that of the children.
The fun experiment was conducted to test the brain's ability to recall memories of things that are no longer in view and then update them when faced with new information, like a change in location. The visual working memory, is one of the foundations for intelligent behavior.
Griffin was the candidate of choice because the scientists needed an animal that was evolutionarily different for comparison but had a brain functionality similar to that of humans. The fact that the smart parrot loves to show off his brain power, in exchange for a few nuts, did not hurt either.
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