The Alex Foundation Newsletter-Volume I, Issue #1

[Lisa B]

The Alex Foundation Newsletter
Posted with Permission from Irene to Lisa B

Dear Readers,

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all of you, and thank you for
subscribing to The Alex Foundation Newsletter. The newsletter will
feature several aspects of the Foundation's work, ranging from
stories of daily life with Alex, Griffin and Wart, to reports about
our research. We'll also be including news about fund-raising
activities, speaking engagements, and other special announcements.

We at The Alex Foundation feel it is very important to bring Alex's
amazing accomplishments to the forefront of the public
consciousness. Alex's achievements are not only helping birds by
raising the awareness of parrot enthusiasts, but our work has also
reached beyond the bird world to benefit humans. The methods
developed for teaching Alex have been used with great success by my
colleague, Diane Sherman, PhD (NewFound Therapies, Monterey, CA), to
teach autistic children various social and other communicative
skills. Consequently, continuing the research at the Foundation is
important to the world at large, as well as for the world of
academia.

The future of research at The Alex Foundation is in your hands. At
present, we rely solely on private donations. We hope that you will
help us "spread the word" about The Alex Foundation so that all of
us can learn more about the remarkable minds of these incredible
birds. Without funding, Alex's education and that of the other
birds cannot continue.

Again, thank you for your support of The Alex Foundation. If Alex
could type, I'm sure he would thank you too*but he would
probably "wanna nut" for his efforts!

Warmly,
Dr. Irene M. Pepperberg
Alex, Wart, Griffin and the staff of The Alex Foundation


-What's Happening in the Lab-

When a reporter once asked Mrs. Einstein if she understood her
husband's theory of relativity, she replied shyly, "No, I just know
how he likes his tea." Arlene Levin, manager of Dr. Pepperberg's
lab at Brandeis University, can sympathize with the wife of the
mathematical genius. Unlike Mrs. Einstein, Arlene knows Alex's
mental capabilities because she, along with Dr. Pepperberg, runs his
sessions. But like Einstein's wife, Arlene gets to see facets of
Alex's personality the rest of us are not are not privy to.

There is a commanding side to Alex. It's almost as if he knows the
stir his accomplishments have caused in the world of animal
cognition and communication. Alex has been taught to ask for what he
wants, and doesn't hesitate to "boss" the lab assistants. Arlene
says that he often keeps the lab assistants hopping to fetch him
things. "Want corn," he'll request, and then refuse it when it's
brought to him. Other requests follow in quick succession, "want
water, want banerry!" ("banerry" is Alex's term for apple), and then
he will refuse these items as well. Although it can't be assumed
that he enjoys his control over the humans in his lab, he certainly
exercises his power frequently!

Sometimes Alex will act as a mentor to Griffin and Wart. "Alex
occasionally involves himself during the training sessions of the
other birds," Arlene says with a smile. "Throughout one of Griffin's
recent training sessions, Alex called out, `You're right! Good
birdie!' each time Griffin answered correctly."

Even with his beloved Dr. Pepperberg, Alex can show a sophisticated
sense of humor that's tinged with superiority. "Sometimes, I'm sure
he's trying to run the research," says Dr. Pepperberg. "The other
day I was trying to get him to repeat some trials and he was acting
up, so I gave him a short time-out on top of his cage. He turns his
back to me and says, `I've already done that.' I have NO idea where
he picked THAT up!"

Mrs. Einstein would probably understand the endearing trials of
daily life with Alex. After all, great minds do think alike!


-What's Happening with Research-

Alex's close observation of the other birds' training has yielded a
great deal more than funny stories from the lab. In fact, it's
helped form the basis of Dr. Pepperberg's newest scientific paper
(Grey Parrots Do Not Always" Parrot": Roles of Imitation and
Phonological Awareness in the Creation of New Labels from Existing
Vocalizations). While Arthur (aka Wart) was learning the vocal label
for "spool," Alex began trying to imitate the same sound. Although
his attempt at imitation is not uncommon, HOW he imitated the sound
is remarkable.

Alex did not possess the sound of "sp" in his vocal repertoire.
However, that didn't stop him from trying to say the name of the
item Wart was enjoying. Alex combined the "s" sound he knew,
paused, and then used another familiar sound, "wool." In the past,
Alex has used familiar labels to produce a new label for a new item.
For example, he initially used "cork" to label an almond in its
shell, and then quickly learned to use "cork nut" to distinguish the
two items.

But his use of "s-pause-wool" has indications for an entirely
different phenomenon*combining different consonants and vowel sounds
to produce a new label. This behavior suggests Alex may realize that
words consist of separate, segmented vocalizations (these parts of
words are called phonemes in scientific jargon), and that these
separate sounds are used to create new labels.

Because this finding is so interesting to other scientists in her
field of study, Dr. Pepperberg has been invited to present this
paper as the keynote speaker at an academic conference in Britain.
She will be presenting "Grey Parrots Do Not Always 'Parrot': Roles
of Imitation and Phonological Awareness in the Creation of New
Labels from Existing Vocalizations" at the Third International
Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts in Hatfield, UK,
April 12-14, 2005.

In young human children, the ability to manipulate individual word
parts indicates an internal realization that words are divisible
units. If Alex possesses this same ability, he has once again shown
scientists that one need not have a big mammalian brain to
communicate via an English-based code. Alex's walnut-sized avian
brain is not only "sufficient" for learning English speech--it is
capable of amazing feats.


-Dr. Pepperberg's Speaking Schedule-

--Invited speaker, February 23-26, 2005, TED (Technology,
Entertainment and Design), Monterey, CA
-- Invited speaker, March 12, 2005, Mid-America Exotic Bird Society,
Columbus, OH
-- Invited speaker, March 17-19, 2005, From Darwin to Dawkins: The
Science and Implications of Animal Sentience, London
-- Invited speaker, March 21, 2005, Charles University in Prague.
-- Keynote speaker, April 12-14, 2005, Third International Symposium
on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts, Hatfield UK
-- Invited speaker, April 19-20, 2005, University of Memphis, TN
-- Speaker, April 23, 2005, Central New Jersey
Contact Lisa B @ njgreybirds@yahoo.com
see show information under the bird show area or African greys
-- Contributed paper, with Diane Sherman, May 5-7, 2005, IMFAR
(International Meeting for Autism Research), Boston, MA
-- Invited speaker, May 8, 2005, Vision Research Conference,
Sarasota, FL
-- Invited speaker, May 12-17, 2005, Bird Week, Tokyo, Japan.



-What's Happening in Fundraising-

Each month The Alex Foundation Newsletter will highlight various
fundraising activities. For this inaugural version of the
newsletter, we'd like to present two items that are being used to
raise money for research.

Diane McKinney, a seamstress with more than 40 years of experience,
has created a beautiful quilt, "Parrots of the World." This
stunning piece of needlework art portrays 23 species of parrots from
all over the planet. The birds are portrayed in a variety of poses,
from formal head "portraits" to full-flight postures. Because the
quilt is almost too pretty to be used as a bed covering, it could
double just as easily as a wall hanging. To see the quilt in all its
dazzling detail, please go to
http://www.alexfoundation.org/quiltdrawing.htm

The "Parrots of the World" quilt will be awarded as the prize in a
drawing sponsored by The Alex Foundation. Entries for the drawing
are priced as follows: $5 = 1 entry, $20 = 5 entries, $50 = 15
entries. Alex himself will be choosing the winning entry on May 2.

For those of you who love jewelry, we're offering some great jewelry
for a great cause! The designer of these pieces, Mercedes Lackey,
is not only a talented jewelry designer, she's also a well known
science fiction author. This multi-talented gal has created some
truly lovely jewelry to benefit The Alex Foundation. Check out these
gorgeous designs at http://www.alexfoundation.org/gifts/Jewelery.html

Entries for the quilt drawing and Mercedes Lackey's jewelry can be
purchased via PayPal at Alex's website,
http://www.alexfoundation.org or by sending a check directly to the
address below:

The Alex Foundation MS/062
Department of Psychology
Attn: A. Levin
Brandeis University
415 South Street
Waltham, MA 02454

The staff of The Alex Foundation would like to thank you in advance
for whatever you can do to help ensure the future education of Alex,
Griffin and Wart. We lucky humans who work every day with these
amazing creatures are so fortunate to be able to witness their
brilliance, their wit, and yes, their humor. We hope this
newsletter will allow us to bring a bit of their wonderful world
into yours.


© The Alex
Foundation Newsletter or parts thereof cannot be reproduced in any
manner without permission of The Alex Foundation.

[greyburd]

Lisa,

thanks for posting this. I do receive the newsletter, but thought it would be good for others here to see as well. I'm glad you got permission from Dr. Pepperberg.

[Regina U.]

Lisa,

Thanks for sharing the letter. Although Dr. Pepperberg works with Greys, what she has found covers all parrots. Her research is also helping autistic children.

Hope to see all of you there at the 4/23/05 fundraiser for the Alex Foundation.

For those on the board that live in NJ, PA, NY, and surrounding areas.. it is not that far away.


Regina