单选题
In 1977 Irene Pepperberg did something very bold. At
a time when animals still were considered automatic in behavior, she set out to
find out what was on another creature's mind by talking to it.
At that time, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought.
They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the
ability to think or feel. "That's why I started my studies with Alex,"
Pepperberg said. Alex was a one-year-old African gray parrot Pepperberg bought
in a Chicago pet store. She let the store's assistant pick him out because she
didn't want other scientists saying later that she'd intentionally chosen an
especially smart bird for her work. Given that Alex's brain was the size of a
shelled walnut, most researchers thought Pepperberg's interspecies communication
study would fail. Under Pepperberg's patient instruction, Alex
learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost one hundred English words.
They were clearly a team-- and because of their work, the notion that animals
can think is no longer so fanciful. Since Alex was able to produce a close
approximation of the sounds of some English words, Pepperberg could ask him
questions about a bird's basic understanding of the world. Of course she
couldn't ask him what he was thinking about, but she could ask him about his
knowledge of numbers, shapes, and colors. To demonstrate, Pepperberg took a
green key and a small green cup from a basket on a shelf. She held up the two
items to Alex's eye. "What's same?" she asked.
Without hesitation, Alex's said. "Co-lor." "What's different?"
Pepperberg asked. "Shape," Alex said. His voice had the
digitized sound of a cartoon character. But the words--and what can only be
called the thoughts--were entirely his. And, then, as if to
offer final proof of the mind inside his bird's brain, Alex spoke up. "Talk
clearly!" he commanded, when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was also
teaching mispronounced the word green. "Talk clearly!" "They need to be able to
distinguish colors to know when a fruit is ripe or unripe," Pepperberg noted.
"They need to know the shapes of their enemies. And it helps to have a concept
of numbers if you need to keep track of your flock. For a longlived bird, you
can't do all of this with instinct; {{U}}cognition{{/U}} must be involved."
单选题
Irene Pepperberg is probably someone who ______.