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Kaushik Patowary
May 29, 2020
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In a paved courtyard surrounded by high apartment houses in the northern part of Berlin, a small crowd had gathered to watch an old high school mathematics teacher demonstrate the brilliance of one of his precocious pupil. The sixty-something math instructor stood proudly with a black, slouch hat covering his thinning white hair. To his left, stood the pupil an impressive Russian trotting horse.
For more than a decade, Wilhelm von Osten, the instructor, had helped Clever Hans, the horse, to develop a number of cognitive skills. von Osten would ask a question, and Hans would answer, correctly, by nodding his head, for a “yes” or a “no”, or by tapping his foot to indicate numbers. Clever Hans could show directions by turning his head, could differentiate between “left” and “right”, identify colors, read the clock, recognize and identify playing cards, and understand a large number of different concepts. Not only could Hans c
Clever Hans: The Wonder Horse Who Could Do Math and Other Amazing Things mysteriousuniverse.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mysteriousuniverse.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
PatnaDaily
Disclaimer: I am sorry, this time round I shall not be able to tell you whether I am being serious or comical? I myself don’t know.
In 1907 Wilhelm Von Osten, a German mathematics teacher demonstrated the numerical skill of his horse Hans - Clever Hans as it later came to be known throughout Germany - and caused a minor sensation.
But diligent scientific investigations proved that the horse was keenly observing his trainer and responding to the cues from his body language to nod at the correct answer.
The Clever Hans syndrome had its brief period of fame, but it did provide an important methodology in conducting animal intelligence experiments. Observer-expectancy effect is widely used in studies in animal cognition.