Object permanence in the African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus)

An African Grey parrot was assessed for object permanence using tasks designed for human infants. The subject showed concepts of object permanence directly comparable to primate and nonprimate mammalian species similarly tested. Because the subject has also been the focus of a study on interspecies communication, the results are discussed in terms of the possible relationship between sensorimotor intelligence and language-like behaviors.