Alex (parrot)

Alex is an African grey parrot whose use of language has been studied intensively for over 20 years by animal psychologist Irene Pepperberg, initially at the University of Arizona and currently at Brandeis University.

Related Topics:
African grey parrot - Animal psychologist - Irene Pepperberg - University of Arizona - Brandeis University

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Alex has a vocabulary of around 100 words, but is exceptional in that he appears to have understanding of what he says. For example, when Alex is shown an object and is asked about its shape, color, or material, he can label it correctly. If asked the difference between two objects, he will also answer that, but if there is no difference between the objects, he will say “none.” When he is tired of being tested, he will say “I’m gonna go away, ” and if the researcher displays annoyance, Alex tries to defuse it with the phrase, “I’m sorry.” If he says “Wanna banana”, but is offered a nut instead, he will stare in silence, ask for the banana again, or take the nut and throw it at the researcher. When asked how many objects of a particular color or a particular material are on a tray, he gives the correct answer approximately 80% of the time.

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Preliminary research also seems to indicate that Alex can carry over the concept of four blue balls of wool on a tray to four notes from a piano. Intriguingly, Dr. Pepperberg is also training him to recognize the Hindu Arabic numeral “4” as “four.”

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As of July 2005, Pepperberg reports that Alex has the concept of zero.

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