Comments on: Are you smarter than a chimp?

By: dat

dat — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 03:40:03 +0000

why the heck are people feeling bad about being beat by a chimp? HUMANS RULE!!! i saw this on discov channel. it has nothing to do with real intelligence. to the common ancestor of the great apes, short term memory was important i forgot why darn it (something to do with catching flies or something?). after hominids diverged from our common ancestor, we later developed complex language(rather than EE EE OOO OOO OOO AAHHH AAAAHHHHH)somewhere down the line, something that required good long term memory. The value of language and communication caused natural selection to favor long term memory over short term. in other words long term mem, allowing us to communicatge, became more vital to us than short term mem, so those with poor long term mem died off and it didnt really matter if you had bad short term mem. Years later, look where we are now! We debate chimps scream, we contribute to the earth by destroying it, chimps contribute by pooping to fertilize plants. see? we’re better off as humans who lose at a game of are you smarter than a chimp (adoy yes- all of us are)than chimps who……who are chimps!

By: murtibing

murtibing — Sat, 15 May 2010 13:27:31 +0000

I have now also tried this type of test when it is running slower.
When there is more time available the task becomes a normal memory task and my score is quite poor. So…. if the task is performed very quickly it is in some way subconcious and is relatively easy, if it is performed slowly it relies on concious effort, normal memory and is relatively difficult.
My guess is that the chimp has relatively less “conciousness” than a human and is primarily operating with the automatic subconcious response. Of course this all depends on timing so it would be interesting to see how chimps do at different speeds when tested.

By: Caleb

Caleb — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:20:59 +0000

This isn’t too hard, you just have to do it a few times. Its not really factual memory, its subconscious memory like murtibing said. You have to let yourself act unconsciously.

By: John Doe

John Doe — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:23:56 +0000

I found this pretty easy. First try, I got at least 3. The second, I got 5. The third, I got 8 and tied the chimp. I wonder if I do it one last time, will I beat him?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:09:59 +0000

I have to say I find this far too easy, anyone know a more difficult one with less time or more numbers? 37 in a row was the best i got..

By: murtibing

murtibing — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:52:09 +0000

I’ve done this test several times now. Beating the monkey is not difficult. But I take issue with people saying this is primarily a memory task. I find there is not time to consciously read each numeral and remember it. The picture is flashed so quickly I mostly form a subjective “feeling” of what is where. My conscious memory only covers the lower digits, and although I get the order of higher digits correct I often couldn’t tell you what the digits actually are! Moreover I often mistake 8 and 3 and also 9 and 4. This is probably due to the fact that the “shape” is similar and can get mistaken when processing at speed. As for the number 10, I don’t recall ever seeing it, but I always have a good idea which square contains the biggest number. For me this monkey memory task raises far more questions than it answers! Very interesting.

By: bettie

bettie — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:47:29 +0000

this test would be better if there was a seperate version for dyslexics. all my incorrect answers were either 6 or 9. I tied the monkey.

By: Michael Scanlon

Michael Scanlon — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 13:18:40 +0000

MindTweaks provides a good discussion of the chimp experiment: http://www.mindtweaks.com/wordpress/?p=551

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:28:56 +0000

After some practising I got 9 out of 10, but only with concentrating hard. The chimp even picks his nose while doing it. And the chimp also got it correct after being distracted for 10 sec. I couldn’t do that. And by the way, to Lawrence, there are an infinite numbers of combination of numbers that appear on the screen. It is impossible to remember all.

By: SOURCE

SOURCE — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:46:39 +0000

i got 9 on the first try and 10 on the 2nd. i think its doing that Bird watching thing so much. it seems to really help. Either that or video games but who knows.