Are You Smarter Than an Ape?

File Rise of the Planet of the Apes gets an app.

20th Century Fox has released a new app for the iPhone and iPad that poses an intriguing question: Are you smarter than an ape? Don't be so sure that you know the answer to that question.

The app is based on an actual intelligence test done at Kyoto University which, according to Fox, parallels the studio's upcoming film Rise of the Planet of the Apes, "in which a scientist's tampering with the laws of nature leads to the development of superior intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy." 

Here's how the test works: "The numbers one through nine appear on the screen in random positions, and then are quickly covered. You must remember their positions, and then touch the squares in numeric order, in order to pass to the next round. A number is added for each round, so after several rounds recreating their proper positions becomes quite a challenge -- for humans, that is. Studies show that young chimps outperform adult humans in this memory test. 'We were very surprised to find this,' Tetsuro Matsuzawa of the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University said. 'But it's a very concrete, simple fact. Young chimps are superior to human adults in a memory task.'"

Check out some of IGN's staff proving how they're not as smart as chimpanzees: 

http://wireless.ign.com/articles/118/1181116p1.html

The app includes a game in which a user has the choice of playing the “easy,” “hard” or most difficult “ape” level. 

The game is based on a short-term memory test conducted at Kyoto University in 2007 in which the numbers 1 to 9 appear onscreen in random configurations and then are quickly covered up.  

The player has to remember those positions and touch the squares in numeric order to pass to the next round.

When the Japanese researchers pitted a group of young chimpanzees against 12 human volunteers, the chimps completed the task faster than the people, disproving the commonly held belief that humans are superior to chimps in all cognitive functions.

via: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2011/07/07/rise-of-the-planet-of-the-apes-new-app-asks-are-you-smarter-than-a-chimp/

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App Website: http://www.apeswillrise.com/app/