Can you see what this chimp is doing? His name is Ayumu. The task involves the numbers 1-9 quickly flashing up on the screen and then covered by squares. Ayumu can then tap the appropriate squares in ascending order and, what's more, he gets it right 90% of the time. This is compared with humans, who will usually fail to get it right one in every 30 attempts. In fact, despite the chimp's remarkable ease at completing this task, there are virtually no humans that can do it - the exception being those with conditions such as savant syndrome. This demonstration shows a chimp's far superior working memory. Working memory is a type of short term memory that allows the brain to handle multiple, complex tasks at once. This could serve them well in the wild as they are often required to make complex calculations and decisions at a split second's notice in order to simply stay alive. These kinds of experiments are breaking down the idea that humans are somehow "more evolved" than the rest of the animal kingdom. It is actually more the case that chimps are just as highly evolved as humans, but in different areas that allow them to fill their evolutionary niche the best they can.
