Monkey Business by Eva Matova

It is no news that chimpanzees are able to learn to recognize symbols such as numbers or letters. But I guess no one would accept a chimp to beat a human in a short-term memory test. Surprisingly, the researchers of the Kyoto University in Japan have proved that a 5-year-old chimp can use its memory better than college students! Six students took part in the test and were told to try to remember the numbers displayed on a computer screen. When the numbers disappeared, they were expected to give the correct order of the numbers they saw before. NO one expected that a chimp would managed to get 80 per cent of the given tasks correct while students only 40 per cent. The research also proved that a short-term memory of an older chimp does not work as well as when compared to a baby chimp. The finding was more than surprising to the researchers; Tetsuro Matsuzawa of Kyoto University, a member of the team who made the research, said, that the discovery "challenges the belief of many people, including many scientists, that humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions." So instead of paying for your kids' education you would better buy a monkey. You never know, maybe you will raise a young genius!

by Eva Matova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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