Original Intelligence: Unlocking the Mystery of Who We Are

Premack and Premack were foremost leaders in psychological research on chimpanzee cognition in the 1970s -1980s. For the past 15 years, they have focused their study on the cognitive competencies of human infants. No one is better positioned therefore to identify unique aspects of human minds. They tackle deep issues: concepts of intentionality, causality, and the cognitive operations involved in language. In addition, Premack and Premack provide fascinating comparisons to chimpanzee cognition, drawn from their own and other studies, which help illuminate both psychological similarities and differences between apes and us.

As talented researchers themselves, Premack and Premack draw often and expertly upon best evidence from experimental studies both of human children and of animals. Perhaps a reader may need to be willing to work a bit in following that evidence, but if so will be rewarded by a truly insightful commentary. Premack and Premack have first-hand research experience, a broad perspective, and capacity for penetrating analysis in a combination that is equaled by no one.

As a psychology prof who sometimes teaches about human versus animal minds, I regard Original Intelligence to be a landmark book I'll keep for rereading many times. It is an excellent book for anyone who wants to understand human infants and other minds.

6 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Brilliant, bold, and beautifully written  Jan 10, 2003

This book is a gem. The science is pure unadulterated Premack. Creative beyond our times. In contrast to many of the touchy-feely books about animals that are based largely on intuition, unconstrained by the lack of theory, Original Intelligence is precisely the opposite. Armed witih the tools of a cognitive scientist, and the clarity of a philospher of mind, Premack approaches the minds of animals in the most sophisticated fashion. There are so many new ideas in this book that both students of animals science, as well as pet owners and animal lovers, will have years and years of things to think about and test.

But not only are the ideas extraordinary, so too are the wonderful experiments on chimpanzees. Their beauty lies in their simplicity. One constantly has this nagging feeling: why didn't i think of that!

Perhaps most important of all, it is written with beautiful clarity and warmth. One hears the authors voices and sentiments. It's almost as good as having a book on tape. Anyone interested in what animals think, and critically, how we should think about their thinking in relation to ours, MUST pick up this book.

8 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Fantastically clear and engaging.  Jan 17, 2003

One of the problems with the study of mental phenomenon is that everyone thinks they are, or can become, an expert. Nowhere is this deeply inaccurate intuition more prominently displayed than in the study of animal minds. Over the last 30 or so years, however, a group of scientists have begun to chisel away at this problem using carefully articulated theories, clever experiments, and the good will of animals in the wild and in captivity. The architect for many of the relevant theories, and a large number of the clever experiments, is David Premack. Now, in this exceptionally profound book, Premack not only walks the reader through his mind, showcasing how carefully reasoned arguments can be converted into simple experiments, but unleashes a wealth of new ideas that should keep the field going for a long time to come. But if you think this is only for the academic crowd, think again. Beautifully written in collaboration with his wife Ann, this book should be mandatory reading for all those who have pets, or who work in zoos, and wish to gain new insights into what animals think and feel. The study of animal cognition is not like astrophysics. You don't need the math and you don't need the high tech, zillion dollar equipment. You need the right theories, some simple experiments that can be done with equipment from your local [store] or pet store, and good eyes to watch and document what the animals does. In Original Intelligence, the Premacks have provided all the ingredients. Bon appetite!

Learning to teach review in Nature vol 425 by Peter Bryant, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford  Mar 08, 2007
By Ann Premack
...The chapters that follow deal with topics such as analogy, and causal and social reasoning, which are at the centre of the Premacks' justly famous research using chimpanzees and, later on, young children. The ingenuity and originality of these experiments are truly astonishing and the authors' account of the work is clear and exciting. It is also impressive to see how many new ideas the Premacks come up with in these chapters...

6 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Sedate; only marginally satisfying  Aug 27, 2002
By Kent Ponder
Though the subject matter excites me because I'm an ex-language prof whose Ph.D. oombines linguistics and psychology, I found this book's presentation to be stoically plodding and bland. The authors present certain characteristics of human infants'/children's minds that link evolutionarily to proto-human/primate beginnings, drawing inferences that would help us use such insights to improve child education -- the concept being that we can better learn how children learn if we better understand our brain evolution, and associated needs, genetic abilities and predilections.

It all sounds promising, and is certainly academically respectable given the authors' documented track records, but the conclusions and recommendations seem surprisingly thin, the application portions surprisingly pedestrian, such as their comments on how to instruct young children in better assessing attitudes and intentions of other children.

At least one recommendtion is practical and very helpful: teach a young child to read by asking him/her to relate a personal experience, or to tell a simple story, making an audio recording of the child's words. Write out his/her story as the exact transcript of the audio, then have the child learn to read his/her words in the transcript while listening to his/her own voice. This makes the reading lesson very personal and meaningful to the child, and helps greatly to establish in his/her mind the connection between spoken sentences and their written counterpart. This method is certainly one up on the commercially prepared books that computer-insert the child's name into an unrelated story written by an adult.

As someone who has directly or indirectly taught many languages to several age groups (including my own sons and daughters), I see great merit in the psychology of this highly personalized reading-instruction method. But others of the authors' recommendations seemed to me to be much less innovative and compelling.