Word: shermans
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Rambunctious students in a computer-age kindergarten? Well, sort of. The students, named Sherman and Austin, are chimpanzees, enrolled in an extraordinary class at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta. Despite their occasional unruly conduct, they are being successfully taught to "talk" to each other in a language other than their own usual mix of sounds and gestures. That may be a scientific first, say their instructors, who are led by a husband-wife team of psychologists, Yerkes' Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and Georgia State University's Duane Rumbaugh...
Like Lana, Sherman and Austin first had to be introduced to Yerkish. Encouraged by praise and rewards of food, they soon learned the lexigrams for different foods and could identify foods by hitting the right buttons on their console. But could they be taught to exchange such information as well...
...would then press the appropriate button on the console, which would flash the lexigram for the food on the screen. If the other chimp understood and identified what he saw by also pressing the correct button, both chimps would be rewarded with the food. In one series of trials, Sherman and Austin got the message (and the snack) across to each other 60 out of 62 times...
...transparent barrier with a small opening in it. Only one chimp was given food, but the other chimp could see the varied delicacies. Spontaneously, without any prodding by the investigators, he would punch out his request and, more often than not, his buddy would comply. At first Sherman, older and apparently more quick-witted, seemed to make "errors." When asked to share an especially tasty item-say, chocolate-he occasionally ignored the request, seemed to feign ignorance or proffered something less desirable...
...Asia Society, the International House of Japan and the India International Center-organizations all devoted to fostering cultural and educational exchanges between East and West. As mementos of his trips to Asia, Rockefeller began a collection of Asian art, worth an estimated $15 million. Said his artistic adviser, Sherman Lee, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art: "He was very moved by certain images, especially the Buddhas-the serene, contemplative figures." Rockefeller bequeathed his art to the Asia Society...