Some researchers have agreed that pigeons have a talent to diagnose breast cancer: basically, they can differentiate a healthy tissue and a tumor (this task can be very difficult for inexperienced human observers), but they are not as good reading mammograms.The researchers decided to train pigeons because they saw researches saying that their visual memory is impressive (they can remember about 1800 images), they can distinguish identities and emotional expressions, letters of the alphabet…
Basically, pigeons have to look at an image of a tissue and have to choose if it’s a benign one or a cancer, choosing one color or another in a computer screen. To make sure they weren't memorizing the pictures, scientists changed them constantly, but pigeons passed the test with fantastic results anyways. At first, pigeons got right 50% of the answers but, after 13 or 15 days, their accuracy increased to 85%. But the amazing thing was that they did it even better when they were in groups of 4 pigeons, and their accuracy level reached 99%.
In conclusions, the results say that pigeons can be used as surrogates for human observers in some medical image perception studies. Also, this research proves that humans and pigeons are somehow connected, because both of them, for example, can perceive and categorize complicated visual patters.
PERSONAL OPINION:
Personally, I don't have really an opinion about this; just that I think this is a good process for science. But, in my opinion, I don’t think they will really use pigeons to do scientific tasks because I think that, if they will not use scientists to do it, they will use robots, not pigeons (although this article says that they are good predicting). Also, because pigeons are animals, and they like to live free, not locked in a lab doing strange tasks and they deserve to live free.
NEW WORDS:
Tissue: teixit muscular
In conclusions, the results say that pigeons can be used as surrogates for human observers in some medical image perception studies. Also, this research proves that humans and pigeons are somehow connected, because both of them, for example, can perceive and categorize complicated visual patters.
PERSONAL OPINION:
Personally, I don't have really an opinion about this; just that I think this is a good process for science. But, in my opinion, I don’t think they will really use pigeons to do scientific tasks because I think that, if they will not use scientists to do it, they will use robots, not pigeons (although this article says that they are good predicting). Also, because pigeons are animals, and they like to live free, not locked in a lab doing strange tasks and they deserve to live free.
NEW WORDS:
Tissue: teixit muscular
Chores: tasques rutinàries
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