BrainZoo Description: The app is a simulation of animal skills for comparison to human ability. The simulation is entirely based on our research about animal cognition. By incorporating the results of real scientific studies, we make it easier for players of this simulation to comprehend the advances made in animal research that otherwise may be overlooked by the average person.

Memory Game

In a study by Tetsuro Matsuzawa, he discovered that chimpanzees have better short term memory than humans. The study examined short term memory by showing the chimpanzees numbers 1 through 9 in a random order, masking them, and then expecting them to select the numbers in the correct order. Even after only showing the chimpanzees the numbers for 210 milliseconds, they were still able to solve the puzzle.

This incredible short-term (or “working”) memory helps chimpanzees survive in the wild, where they often must make rapid and complex decisions. Working memory is an active form of short-term memory, a mental workspace that allows the brain to juggle multiple thoughts simultaneously. For chimps, the amazing working memory likely helps the animals navigate the branches of huge trees to feed, for example, or decide what to do when competing groups of animals are threatening one another, he said.
-Live Science

Even if you can’t play this game in “real” mode, don’t feel bad as the researcher himself said “Don’t worry, nobody can do it, it’s impossible for you.”

Picture Slides

The study “Primate Memory: Retention of Serial List Items by a Rhesus Monkey” by Stephen F. Sands and Anthony A. Wright showed that rhesus monkeys correctly remembered about 86% items in a 10 item list. Since the monkeys did so well, the researchers decided to test the monkeys with a 20 item list, which the monkeys got an average of 81% on.

A human without interference, that is they are given lists similar items multiple times in a row, will often remember a 10 item list with over 93% accuracy and a 20 item list with 92% accuracy. When interference is added, human accuracy drops to around 70%

In the game, “Hard” mode is representative of the 10 item list and the “Real” mode is representative of the 20 item list.

Monty Hall Game

The “Monty Hall Dilemma” (MHD) is a well known probability puzzle in which a player tries to guess which of three doors conceals a desirable prize. After an initial choice is made, one of the remaining doors is opened, revealing no prize. The player is then given the option of staying with their initial guess or switching to the other unopened door. Most people opt to stay with their initial guess, despite the fact that switching doubles the probability of winning. A series of experiments investigated whether pigeons (Columba livia), like most humans, would fail to maximize their expected winnings in a version of the MHD. Birds completed multiple trials of a standard MHD, with the three response keys in an operant chamber serving as the three doors and access to mixed grain as the prize. Across experiments, the probability of gaining reinforcement for switching and staying was manipulated, and birds adjusted their probability of switching and staying to approximate the optimal strategy. Replication of the procedure with human participants showed that humans failed to adopt optimal strategies, even with extensive training.