You vs. The Chimp

Think chimps are chumps when it comes to serious mental powers like short-term memory? Think again. A 2007 study showed that young chimpanzees can significantly outperform you at some short-term memory tasks. Scientists even have the video to prove it. Read on, then watch that video.

Rules of the Game

First, researchers in Japan taught six chimps--three 5-year-olds and their mothers--to recognize and order the numbers 1 through 9. Then they taught them to play a memory game.

In the game, the numbers would appear randomly on a video screen. The object was to touch them in order: 1, 2, 3, etc. But there was a catch. As soon as the chimps pressed 1, the rest of the numbers disappeared, covered over by white boxes. So they had to remember where they had seen the numbers and touch the white boxes that covered them.

Remarkable Results

Not only could the chimps do this just as accurately as college students, they could do it faster, too. So the scientists devised another test, to see who could remember and order five numbers that flashed on a screen for just fractions of a second. Result? Another chimp win.

Lead researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa says that chimps seem to have something akin to "photographic memory," at least for short-term tests. Don't believe it? Well, then, we've got a way for you to test yourself against the chimp and see who comes up champ. Just click the link below for a video test.