Looking Alex up made me curious about the "rival-model technique" that was used to teach him English. http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/p/pepperberg-alex.html > To determine optimal conditions for allospecific learning, Todt (1975a) used Grey parrots to investigate what might happen if training involved social interaction. He developed the model/rival (M/R) technique in which humans assume roles played by psittacine peers in the wild. Humans thus demonstrate to the parrots the types of interactive vocalizations to be learned. In Todt's procedure, one human is exclusively the principal trainer of each parrot, asking questions and providing increased visual and vocal attention for appropriate responses. Another human is exclusively the model for the parrot's behavior and simultaneously the parrot's rival for the attention of the principal trainer. So, for example, the trainer says, "What's your name?" and the human model/rival responds, "My name is Lora." Such human interchanges are similar to duets observed between parrots in large aviaries (Mebes 1978). Todt's parrots learned the model/rival's response often in less than a day, in striking contrast to the slow and sparse acquisition in operant paradigms (compare Grosslight et al. 1964; Grosslight and Zaynor 1967). >
RIP - Alex
Posted - 09/12/2007 : 04:31:29
Bird brained. 
