SMARTER THAN BABY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 314, 30 August 1932, Page 6

SMARTER THAN BABY

CHIMPANZEE AND CHILD REARED UNDER SAME CONDITIONS. INTERESTING EXPERIMENT A fascinating experiment in which a scientist reared his child and a chimpanzee under identical conditions and found that the simiam surpassed the youngster in memory, co-operative spirit, and ability to grasp knowledge was described before the Mid-Western Psychological Association at Bloomington, Indiana. Dr. W. N. Kellogg, Indiana University psychologist, and his wife, conducted the experiment at their home in Orange Park, Fla. Through' the experiement Dr. Kellogg sought scientific support of the theory that environment is so important in life that a chimpanzee, if reared in domestic surroundings, will act much as a human being acts. Its results, Dr. Kellogg said, tended to substantiate the theory. The experiments required nine months. They were completed some weeks ago. The baby, a boy, was ten months old at the start of the tests, and the chimpanzee was seven months and a-half old. The chimpanzee and the baby lived under identical conditions. They played together. They ate together. Their clothes were the same. As a result, j Dr. Kellogg reported, the chimpanzee behaved in almost all respeets like his own child. Dr, Kellogg noted that, owing tc

the animal's shorter life, it matures earlier. Hence, it progressed more rapidly than the baby. To test their learning ability, Dr. Kellogg tied slip knots on their wrists and feet. Then he timed them to see which would untie the knots the quicker. The chimpanzee won. The chimpanzee also learned the use of the hose and rake quicker than the baby, he said. To test their respective memories, Dr. Kellogg arranged two doors in full view of each. He then disappeared through one door and watched to see which could the ldnger remember through which door he went. The chimpanzee, Dr. Kellogg found, could remember for thirty minutes. The baby could remember for only five minutes. The chimpanzee showed superior co~ ordination, the psychologist said, by responding more quickly when called, and by doing small tasks more readily than th'e child. Dr. Kellogg was unable to teach the chimpanzee to te'peak,1 and doubted whether this ever would be accomplished. This finding is contrary to that of several other scientists, who have reported that they succeeded in teaching chimpanzees to say a few words. The experiment, Dr. Kellogg believes, established the fact that much of an infant human being's early be- } haviour is acquired, not "native or | natural" reaetions, as often contended. jl "It is very likely," he said, "that , infants begin to acquire traits very soon after they are born. Many of their reaetions are due to their environment and are not 'natural'."