Looking for a play buddy? Well, you can now play Rock, Paper, and Scissors with a chimpanzee. The Japanese researchers have trained a chimpanzee to play the game with ease. You do know about the game! The rock hits the scissor and breaks it. Although the paper can wrap the rock, the scissors can cut it. A recent study showed that chimpanzees have the ability to think like human beings. The Japanese researchers taught a chimpanzee to play rock, paper, scissors, and the animal could play it as well as a four-year-old child.
The game is not easy, but the chimpanzee could use his reasoning and solving abilities to play it. How does he know that paper wraps the stone and scissors cut the paper? The scientists in Japan used 7 monkeys for the experimentation. They used chimpanzees of different sizes, sexes, and ages. All the apes were given a booth with a computer touch screen installed in each. They were presented with two signals of hands for the game. If they picked the right option, they would get a piece of apple. They also heard a chime by choosing the right signal. If they chose the weaker option, they would get nothing. After a few sessions, the chimps learned the pattern of whether scissors beat paper or paper beats stone. The first sequence they learned was of paper and rock. Next, they learned the rock-and-scissors sequence.
After 307 sessions, 5 out of 7 chimpanzees learned the game and mastered it. The smart chimpanzees learned the game and mastered it in just 53 days. Scientists performed the same experiment on children. They found out that the chimpanzee’s understanding of the game is similar to that of a 4-year-old child.
The study showed that the chimpanzees are capable of learning the game just like a 4-year-old child can! The ability of a 4-year-old child to understand the circular relationship proves that chimpanzees can play the game as well as a 4-year-old. Scientists were successful with their objectives. This experiment took place at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University. The chimpanzees learned the transverse pattern, and this was successful research.
We can relate the findings to a popular theory. When the chimpanzees gave the right answer, they were given a piece of apple. When they did not give the right answer, they did not get anything and heard an unpleasant sound. With the help of the reward (the apple), they were able to learn the game efficiently. It looks like we will get to see the day when a chimpanzee will be playing chess. Scientists will soon come up with more findings. This does tell us that chimpanzees do have a good understanding, and if you train them, they can do many tasks with ease.
