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US Mall 1 - The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots
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List Price: $24.00
Our Price: $21.60
Your Save: $ 2.40 ( 10% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 598.71
EAN: 9780674008069
ISBN: 0674008065
Label: Harvard University Press
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 448
Publication Date: 2002-04-30
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Studio: Harvard University Press
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: There is so much more we could understand
Comment: Animals have magnificent powers of communication. I'm convinced of it. We humans just have not taken the time to ask them questions. All too often we treat all animals as livestock, here on earth as decorations or food. Again and again I've seen people make amazing communications with their pets, ones you wouldn't think pets were capable of -- because we have to change our thoughts about animals. We are the weak ones because we have cognition and communication skills but have not chosen to bring out the same skills in animals. For more on these kinds of ideas I would recommend Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs, which shows how amazing dogs can predict heart attacks and diagnose cancer. The book shows that probably all dogs can do these things -- we just haven't asked them. Animals are amazing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Alex the african grey! The Alex Studies by Dr Irene Pepperberg
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Schooling psittacines
Comment: 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]
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant work
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thanks!
Comment: The book was in great condition and it arrived promptly. The price was also great- I've seen it for more than twice as much more elsewhere. Thanks for the pleasant transaction!
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: There is so much more we could understand
Comment: Animals have magnificent powers of communication. I'm convinced of it. We humans just have not taken the time to ask them questions. All too often we treat all animals as livestock, here on earth as decorations or food. Again and again I've seen people make amazing communications with their pets, ones you wouldn't think pets were capable of -- because we have to change our thoughts about animals. We are the weak ones because we have cognition and communication skills but have not chosen to bring out the same skills in animals. For more on these kinds of ideas I would recommend Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs, which shows how amazing dogs can predict heart attacks and diagnose cancer. The book shows that probably all dogs can do these things -- we just haven't asked them. Animals are amazing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Alex the african grey! The Alex Studies by Dr Irene Pepperberg
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Schooling psittacines
Comment: 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]
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant work
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thanks!
Comment: The book was in great condition and it arrived promptly. The price was also great- I've seen it for more than twice as much more elsewhere. Thanks for the pleasant transaction!
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