Swartz assumes new role at Trust, extends list-learning research to bonobos

Des Moines, Iowa – July 27, 2010 – “Rocky, would you like to work?” Dr. Karyl Swartz asks from the orangutan research laboratory at Great Ape Trust, a scientific research institute in Des Moines, Iowa, where she recently assumed a new role as associate program director of learning, memory and cognition. The 5-year-old male orangutan swings into the room from old fire hoses strewn from the ceiling and presses a triangle-shaped icon on a large computer monitor, a signal that he’s ready to begin a research trial called “match to sample.”

A picture of a bird appears on the touchscreen, then again with a picture of apples. Rocky presses the bird picture, a chime sounds to indicate he is correct and the young orangutan receives a slice of apple or a grape as a reward. More pictures appear, and Rocky will complete 50 trials before the session is over. When he finishes, Rocky’s success rate is 68 percent, above chance.

It’s too early to say what that means, said Swartz, an expert in primate memory and learning who only recently began research with Rocky and other orangutans living at Great Ape Trust. The match-to-sample exercises are a continuation of Swartz’s longitudinal investigation of cognition, perception, learning and memory in non-human and human primates.

Comparative analyses across species gives scientists insight into the individual cognitive characteristics of each and the similarities between them, as well as help researchers develop consistent methodology for the inquiry that also can be applied across the primate order.

Swartz established the list-learning paradigm with rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) monkeys in 1991, and expanded it in 1998 to include orangutans (Pongo spp.) living at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, where continues as the principal investigator on the project. In 2004, she became a resident scientist at Great Ape Trust, where she is extending the project to include bonobos (Pan paniscus).

The research with orangutans – Great Ape Trust residents Azy, Knobi, Allie and Popi join Rocky in these trials – incorporates questions of numerical representation with serial learning and list learning studies. The data produced give scientists insight into the organizational strategies the apes employ in sorting.

Swartz’s approach with bonobos will follow the same general trajectory, but with apes who have symbolic ability. Some of the bonobos at Great Ape Trust are language sophisticated and use a keyboard of more than 300 lexigrams, or abstract symbols that represent words. They extend this capability to applying lexigrams to photographs of objects, as well as the objects themselves, and two of the adults, Kanzi and Panbanisha, understand a great deal of spoken English.

“This ability to name things in two modalities – lexigrams and photographs – and the ability to respond to spoken English words allow some more extensive studies of list learning and memory with these animals,” Swartz said. “For example, they are not limited only to photographic presentation of list items. They can be presented with lists in any of the three modalities – lexigrams, photographs or spoken words – and they can report the list using lexigrams, photographs or both.”

Studies are planned to use all modalities available to the language-sophisticated bonobos, while the non-language trained individuals will participate in the standard procedure learning lists using photographs as comparisons. Swartz also is conducting additional studies investigating whether language experience promotes understanding of higher-order conceptualizations testing whether items are the same or different, and second-order sequencing.

In addition to the planned trials with Great Ape Trust’s bonobos, insight may be gained by asking children to do the same tests, Swartz said. She said her research program has strong biomedical and behavioral health implications and applications, putting Great Ape Trust at the forefront of such inquiries with its cross-species approach.

“Working with non-verbal apes using pictures could have implications for humans for developmental disabilities and communication disabilities, including people with Alzheimer’s disease who have lost their words,” said Swartz, who also serves on the board of directors of The Homestead, a Des Moines non-profit providing services to clients with autism.

Director of Scientific Research at Great Ape Trust, William M. Fields, said Swartz’s work contributes greatly to the important studies at The Trust on several levels.

“Her understanding of ape ergonomics and testing apparatus is an enormous benefit and is based upon her experience in the classical traditions of primate studies,” Fields said. “Karyl is innovative and creative and her experience with free-ranging chimpanzees undergirds her strong sensibilities for ape welfare and conservation, as well as her understanding of the importance of programmatic connections between the lab and the field.  As an experimental psychologist and a clinical practitioner, her experience and skill bring a very rich cross disciplinary dimension to our research and to our students.”

In addition to her responsibilities at Great Ape Trust, Swartz is a professor emerita at Lehman College of the City University of New York (CUNY), a research associate at Smithsonian’s National Zoo, and an affiliate professor at Iowa State University.