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Is Ayumu the eidectic chimp simply autistic? (programming.dev)

submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So Ayumu is a chimp, child of Ai and they participate in the Ai project. There are several mother / child pairs that have been studied for short-term memory ability.

https://youtu.be/JkNV0rSndJ0

I'm sure lots have already seen the video of ayumu being presented with numbers in random places around a screen and then being able to press where the numbers were in sequence at blazing speeds and did it better than the mother.

But Ayumu also did it better than all the other chimps and when compared to humans, humans did the task better to the chimps, but Ayumu's speed is outstanding and they don't know why.

So, here's a hot take, could Ayumu just be autistic, and excel at such tasks?

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

He's being lauded as having amazing cognitive abilities, when it could perhaps have an easier explanation. Don't make this something it isn't.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

https://www.jasoncollins.blog/posts/humans-1-chimps-0-correcting-the-record

"Ayumu received extensive practice on the task; the humans to whom he was compared received none. At least one subsequent study (2) shows that, with even very moderate practice, humans can match Ayumu’s performance.

In spite of this basic methodological error, the claim of superior spatial working memory in chimpanzees has been widely and uncritically repeated in the popular and scientific media. Propagation of this incorrect idea distracts from more fruitful explorations of chimpanzee memory and undermines ongoing research into human and primate evolution."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I think that article here is specifically referring to the tests where the numbers are flashed up for 240ms (or such) and then hidden.