Science Guardian

Says “I Love You” as last words, then conks

Alex counted, reported colors, shapes, materials for Irene, even ordered breakfast

But no recursive logic, humanity’s defenders rush to point out

Sad news today. After a brilliant, 31 year academic and show biz career as a student of language and television star on PBS and BBC, Irene Pepperberg’s research subject Alex passed away in the night, last Thursday.

He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of one-liners he established himself in TV shows, scientific reports, and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.

But last week Alex, an African Grey parrot, died, apparently of natural causes, said Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of its life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.

Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the ability to learn human language. Alex’s language facility was, in some ways, more surprising than the feats of primates that have been taught American Sign Language, like Koko the gorilla, trained by Penny Patterson at the Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org in Woodside, Calif., or Washoe the chimpanzee, studied by R. Allen and Beatrice Gardner at the University of Nevada in the 1960s and 1970s….

Even up through last week, Alex was working with Dr. Pepperberg on compound words and hard-to-pronounce words. As she put him into his cage for the night last Thursday, Dr. Pepperberg said, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.”

He was found dead in his cage the next morning, and was determined to have died late Thursday night.

We have known about and admired Alex for a long time, but we were never surprised by his facility with words, since we have long owned an African Grey, who is both affectionate and knows exactly what is going on.

However, we haven’t taught her to order breakfast yet, which was the most human-like feat Alex managed, in our book. Reportedly Irene would ask Alex what he wanted for breakfast, and Alex might say “Apple!’ If he was then brought a banana, he would say “No banana! Apple!”

No, no, humans are still superior!

As Benedict Carey reports Alex was a paradigm buster who pushed the envelope of what bird brains were thought capable of (by scientists), and seemed to surpass both Koko the gorilla and Washoe the chimp in some ways.

But note the resistance that some people put up to any idea that a parrot might compete with a human child. They rush to point out that Alex lacked “recursive logic”, and “grammatical structure”, as if they were defending a fence between humans and the rest of the animal world.

Dr. Pepperberg prompted Alex to learn about 150 words, which he could put into categories, and to count small numbers, as well as colors and shapes. “The work revolutionized the way we think of bird brains,” said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College who works with dolphins and elephants. “That used to be a pejorative, but now we look at those brains — at least Alex’s — with some awe.”

Other scientists, while praising the research, cautioned against characterizing Alex’s abilities as human. The parrot learned to communicate in basic expressions — but it did not show the sort of logic and ability to generalize that children acquire at an early age, they said. “There’s no evidence of recursive logic, and without that you can’t work with digital numbers or more complex human grammar,” said David Premack, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

We prefer to think of the differences as a spectrum in which different abilities merge into one another like the colors in a rainbow, so that we are simply farther along in a continuum where animals and it seems birds and other creatures do have much more in common with us that we have allowed in the past.

We used to sit with guests and while they were all still sitting down and we hadn’t yet noticed any signs of incipient departure, our African Grey would suddenly pipe up “Goodbye! Goodbye!” and it would become clear that indeed they were just about ready to take their leave. The parrot could read body language very well. Bootsie (left) was reading cues, she didn’t give them the cue to leave, we assure you.

Does anyone except Irene and other African Grey owners care about Alex’s departure? Seems so. It is currently the top story on the “e-mailed” list at the Times.

We are just sorry to recall how much trouble Irene and Alex had gaining funding for one of the most interesting research projects around. But that’s the fate of paradigm busters.

Here is the story in the Times, Alex, a Parrot Who Had a Way With Words, DiesThe New York Times
September 10, 2007
Alex, a Parrot Who Had a Way With Words, Dies
By BENEDICT CAREY

He knew his colors and shapes, he learned more than 100 English words, and with his own brand of one-liners he established himself in TV shows, scientific reports, and news articles as perhaps the world’s most famous talking bird.

But last week Alex, an African Grey parrot, died, apparently of natural causes, said Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of its life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.

Scientists have long debated whether any other species can develop the ability to learn human language. Alex’s language facility was, in some ways, more surprising than the feats of primates that have been taught American Sign Language, like Koko the gorilla, trained by Penny Patterson at the Gorilla Foundation/Koko.org in Woodside, Calif., or Washoe the chimpanzee, studied by R. Allen and Beatrice Gardner at the University of Nevada in the 1960s and 1970s.

When, in 1977, Dr. Pepperberg, then a doctoral student in chemistry at Harvard, bought Alex from a pet store, scientists had little expectation that any bird could learn to communicate with humans. Most of the research had been done in pigeons, and was not promising.

But by using novel methods of teaching, Dr. Pepperberg prompted Alex to learn about 150 words, which he could put into categories, and to count small numbers, as well as colors and shapes. “The work revolutionized the way we think of bird brains,” said Diana Reiss, a psychologist at Hunter College who works with dolphins and elephants. “That used to be a pejorative, but now we look at those brains — at least Alex’s — with some awe.”

Other scientists, while praising the research, cautioned against characterizing Alex’s abilities as human. The parrot learned to communicate in basic expressions — but it did not show the sort of logic and ability to generalize that children acquire at an early age, they said. “There’s no evidence of recursive logic, and without that you can’t work with digital numbers or more complex human grammar,” said David Premack, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Pepperberg used an innovative approach to teach Alex. African Greys are social birds, and pick up some group dynamics very quickly. In experiments, Dr. Pepperberg would employ one trainer to, in effect, compete with Alex for a small reward, like a grape. Alex learned to ask for the grape by observing what the trainer was doing to get it; the researchers then worked with the bird to help shape the pronunciation of the words.

Alex showed surprising facility. For example, when shown a blue paper triangle, he could tell an experimenter what color the paper was, what shape it was, and — after touching it — what it was made of. He demonstrated off some of his skills on nature shows, including programs on the BBC and PBS. He famously shared scenes with the actor Alan Alda on the PBS series, “Look Who’s Talking.”

Like parrots can, he also picked up one-liners from hanging around the lab, like “calm down,” and “good morning.” He could express frustration, or apparent boredom, and his cognitive and language skills appeared to be about as competent as those in trained primates. His accomplishments have also inspired further work with African Grey parrots; two others, named Griffin and Arthur, are a part of Dr. Pepperberg’s continuing research program.

Even up through last week, Alex was working with Dr. Pepperberg on compound words and hard-to-pronounce words. As she put him into his cage for the night last Thursday, Dr. Pepperberg said, Alex looked at her and said: “You be good, see you tomorrow. I love you.”

He was found dead in his cage the next morning, and was determined to have died late Thursday night.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Science Guardian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.