The mirror self-recognition test was dreamed up in the 1960's by Gordon Gallup, Jr., a scientist now with the State University of New York. Back then, he was a graduate student taking a course in psychology, and the students were asked to come up with an idea for an experiment.
“I was washing my face in front of a mirror one day, says Grallup. It occurred to me wouldn't il be interesting to see if other animals could recognize themselves in mirrors?"
Still looking at the mirror, he realized he could test an animal by secretly marking its face with some kind of red dye (染料),to see if it could use the mirror to access these strange red marks.
No such test had been done before, even though people had long observed animals looking into mirrors. Most species tend to treat a mirror image as a stranger to be courted (献殷勤)or attacked. Some scientists thought that primates (灵长类)might do better. Charles Darwin once watched with interest as an orangutan (红毛猩猩)named Jenny made faces at a mirror.
When Gallup started doing experiments with chimps (黑猩猩).a few years after he came up with his test, he found that at first the chimps acted as if the mirror image were another animal. But then, after a couple of days they began using the mirror to examine parts of their bodies like their teeth.
When Gallup put red dye on their faces, the chimps later woke up and reacted to the unexpected mirror image as if they understood that the marks were on their own faces.
In Gallup s view, only three species have mirror self-recognition: chimps, orangutans, and humans. Others, though, think the list is longer. Diana Reiss, a scientist at Hunter College, has tested both dolphins and elephants and believes that both show signs of recognizing themselves in mirrors.
12. Who first came up with the idea of the mirror self-recognition test?
A.A university student. | B.A zoo keeper in New York. |
C.A teacher in Hunter College. | D.A scientist in a research organization. |
13. What did Gordon Gallup intend the red dye for?
A.Marking his image in the mirror. |
B.Marking his own face before washing. |
C.Marking the face of the animal to be tested. |
D.Marking an animal without self-recognition ability. |
14. How did chimps react to their image in the mirror?
A.They showed no interest in it. |
B.They examined that image carefully. |
C.They took it as another animal al first. |
D.They immediately recognized what il was. |
15. Which of the following have been tested by Diana Reiss?
A.Orangutans. | B.Chimps. | C.Humans. | D.Elephants. |