Product Description

Can a parrot understand complex concepts and mean what it says? Since the early 1900s, most studies on animal-human communication have focused on great apes and a few cetacean species. Birds were rarely used in similar studies on the grounds that they were merely talented mimics--that they were, after all, "birdbrains." Experiments performed primarily on pigeons in Skinner boxes demonstrated capacities inferior to those of mammals; these results were thought to reflect the capacities of all birds, despite evidence suggesting that species such as jays, crows, and parrots might be capable of more impressive cognitive feats.

Twenty years ago Irene Pepperberg set out to discover whether the results of the pigeon studies necessarily meant that other birds--particularly the large-brained, highly social parrots--were incapable of mastering complex cognitive concepts and the rudiments of referential speech. Her investigation and the bird at its center--a male Grey parrot named Alex--have since become almost as well known as their primate equivalents and no less a subject of fierce debate in the field of animal cognition. This book represents the long-awaited synthesis of the studies constituting one of the landmark experiments in modern comparative psychology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #145423 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 446 pages

Amazon.com
When Irene Pepperberg, a professor at the University of Arizona, says goodnight, she typically hears the reply "Bye. I'm gonna go eat dinner. I'll see you tomorrow." Though the response itself is not unusual, the source is, for it comes from Alex, a gray parrot, Pepperberg's main research subject for the past 22 years. That parrots can talk is well known; what Pepperberg set out to study was their cognitive abilities. By teaching the bird the meaning--not just the sound--of words in order to communicate, she hoped to discover how his brain worked. She exhaustively details her fascinating results in The Alex Studies.

Pepperberg bought Alex--a parrot of average intelligence and without lofty pedigree or training--from a pet store when he was 1. Since working with Pepperberg, he has developed a 100-word vocabulary and can identify 50 different objects, recognizing quantities up to six, distinguishing seven colors and five shapes, and understanding the difference between big and small, same and different, over and under. He can tell you, for instance, that corn is yellow even if there is no corn in view, as well as correctly select the square object among various shapes and identify it verbally. What this all means, stresses Pepperberg, is that Alex is not merely parroting but actually thinking; he bases answers on reason rather than instinct or mimicry.

Though the anecdotes are rich and Alex makes a lively subject, this is principally a research paper relying on intricate details and a prodigious amount of data (the notes and references alone run to 79 pages). This is not light reading, particularly for the layperson. Still, The Alex Studies manages to be more than a valuable contribution to science, for in providing ample evidence of our similarities to other creatures, the book ultimately calls into question the concept of human supremacy over the animal kingdom. Pepperberg's stated goal is "to provoke awareness in humans that animals have capacities that are far greater than we were once led to expect, and to remind us that all we need to examine these capacities are some enlightened research tools." She has provided such tools in this seminal work. --Shawn Carkonen

The New York Times Book Review, Bernd Heinrich
Her work is new and important. She's done groundbreaking experiments, and bringing them together in a panoramic view is a great service.

Review
Alex's spectacular abilities were sensationalized in the news media, as though it were a talking parrot act. That obscured the significance of the studies, which is why The Alex Studies is important...[Irene Pepperberg has] done groundbreaking experiments, and bringing them together in a panoramic view is a great service...She describes simply what she did, and why and how her results compare with equivalent language-use and comprehension studies on chimps, marine mammals and children...She proves that animals have abilities greater than we are led to expect, but these can be revealed only by appropriate research tools. She succeeds where many others failed, and she convinces us that the details of investigative methods are what matter. The purpose is not to reveal Alex as a winged Einstein. Instead, she shows that complex mental operations are revealed only be precise methods that match the capabilities investigated. And she demonstrates remarkable parallels between parrots and humans. The core importance of social interaction in both learning and testing is crucial for her results. In that, her studies have relevance far beyond parrots.
--Bernd Heinrich (New York Times Book Review )

Alex's abilities are extraordinary, and Pepperberg's investigation of them makes The Alex Studies essential for anyone interested in the wider issues it raises...As with other pioneering works from Darwin's to E. O. Wilson's, its influence will be felt throughout the field of animal ethology for years to come.
--Caroline Fraser (Los Angeles Times )

Pepperberg's work is admirably rigorous. Earlier work with language-trained animals was notorious for poor design and overly charitable interpretations of data. Pepperberg, by contrast, takes careful precautions against inadvertent cueing. She uses conservative estimates of chance when assessing the statistical reliability of Alex's responses, and she shows restraint when interpreting her results...Pepperberg has organized her book in a quasi-historical fashion, framing each phase of her research in terms of the contemporary work that inspired or informed it. Each chapter is devoted to a particular capacity or competence, such as numerical cognition, categorization, or the comprehension of words...From those who wish to read selectively (or for instructors who wish to assign only one or two chapters) it should be quite welcome because each chapter can stand on its own reasonably well...The book should be accessible to a wide range of audiences, from researchers studying animal behavior to advanced undergraduates in a course that covers relevant material such as animal cognition or the capacities of language-trained animals.
--Edward Kako (Science )

What distinguishes the work of Pepperberg from that of the majority of researchers working with language- trained apes is that she is truly interested in the underlying cognitive processes involved in her subject's behaviour. She thus asks questions…and then designs experiments to test the possibilities…this book represents a scholarly reporting of a scientist's quest to understand the mind of another species in as honest and rigorous a manner as is possible, under the circumstances of being both "parent" and investigator.
--Michael Tomasello and Josep Call (Animal Behaviour )

Customer Reviews

Alex the african grey! The Alex Studies by Dr Irene Pepperberg
This is a great book about how Alex came to be and how he became so smart. Dr Irene Pepperberg chose Alex as a young parrot and began teaching him language and to associate words with objects. Alex became very smart and could hold a pretty decent conversation. This book shows just how intelligent parrots are and they are more than just pets, they are our lifelong companions. The Alex Studies is an excellent read, I reccomend this book highly.

Schooling psittacines
What can a bird learn? Irene Pepperberg set out to find out. As with children, the best way to assess what has been learnt is to ask. Primarily for that reason, she chose birds capable of forming human words. An African Grey parrot, who she dubbed Alex [Avian Learning EXperiment], became the subject of her investigations. Earlier efforts in laboratories were unsatisfactory. Why should Mynahs, reputedly excellent mimics, fail to learn speech in laboratory conditions? When in homes with several people providing input, they chatter endlessly, almost to distraction. The solution, Pepperberg decided, was the intense social environment. To that end, she developed a training method that produced astonishing results.

This book thoroughly documents the author's methods and results, providing a fascinating account of the cognitive abilities of at least one psittacine species, the Grey Parrot. Incorporating a technique she calls M/R - for Model/Rival, Pepperberg would "teach" an assistant what she wished Alex to learn. The bird observed this, then was encouraged to emulate the learning experience. This meant the bird had to understand what was to be learned and use its innate abilities to achieve it. Speech was the first lessons, but things moved well beyond simple words quickly. Shapes, colours and materials were the next level, with Alex discriminating among them both singly and in groupings. The object was to understand what Alex could comprehend and act on. Alex also learned to differentiate - "larger", or "different" or, most significantly for a bird - "abscence". He could note when something was missing, naming the missing object. The method resulted in Alex's expressing his own needs and wants, even ending a training session by declaring he wished to quit.

Pepperberg's research findings are in direct contradiction to past scientific efforts. The book is therefore richly detailed with the methods used and was information was obtained. There are photographs of test object layouts, even stills from X-ray videos of how Alex forms his speech. She is clearly challenging the received wisdom of established opinion. She's careful to avoid terms like "consciousness" or even "intelligence", although the latter comes in for some discussion late in the book. She finds only one example of Alex's communication she thinks can be deemed "creative". Much more important, in her view, is that we need to understand previously under-evaluated cognitive capabilities in parrots. They are a long-lived and social species, conditions which lead to interaction among individuals and reinforced learning. Social interaction, combined with carefully devised teaching methods are essential to proper learning, whether with children, other primates or psittacines. The capacity is there, and we need to recognise it. The Alex studies clearly demonstrate that at least these psittacines are capable of far more than the simply mimicry we've long attributed to them. Human primacy in learning, once considered fundamental to our place in Nature, is clearly at an end.

Pepperberg's narrative is thoroughly detailed and supported by an equally thorough bibliography. The reading may be a bit of a slog for the novice reader. The citation method breaks up sentences, a common technique with ethography studies, but cumbersome to cope with. The method is in line with her concern for academic acceptance. She excuses the approach as not desiring "to overwhelm readers with facts and figures" [although there are still plenty of those] but to encourage an enlarged sensitivity to the abilities of non-human species. She has certainly accomplished that task, and admirably. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Brilliant work
The importance of Dr. Irene Pepperberg's work is much wider reaching than just talking parrots. This book chronicles the amazing studies she has done with Alex, her African Grey parrot in cognition and language acquistion. Discovering that Grey parrots have such abilities should make the threat to their habitat and the horror of illegal smuggling of these intelligent birds much more pressing and urgent to the public. That Dr. Pepperberg's techniques can also be applied to assisting children with learning difficulties adds to the benefits of these unique and startling discoveries. If you are interested in animal intelligence, especially if you have a Grey at home, you will be amazed by this book.