Great Ape Trust to gather internationally recognized scientists for 'Decade of the Mind III'

• Dr. Tetsuro Matsuzawa, a professor in the Language and Intelligence Section at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University in Japan. Matsuzawa’s research has focused on chimpanzee intelligence and tool use, both in the wild and in laboratory settings. His session is titled “Chimpanzee Mind: A Combining Effort of Fieldwork and Laboratory Work.”

• Dr. Robert Seyfarth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Seyfarth began his research with vervet monkeys in Kenya, and since 1992 has been involved in a study of communication, cognition and behavior among baboons in the Moremi Game Reserve, Bostwana. His session is titled “Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind.”

• Dr. Merlin Donald, professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Donald is the author of two influential books: Origins of the Modern Mind: Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition and A Mind so Rare: The Evolution of Human Consciousness. He continues to focus academically on human cognitive evolution, especially on the complex interactions between mind, technology and culture.

The Decade of the Mind initiative follows the model established with Decade of the Brain, 1990-2000. During that period, quantum leaps in neuroscience spurred development of new technologies that gave researchers the tools to look non-invasively into the living, conscious brain and develop a blueprint of its structure.

The Decade of the Mind initiatives take this scientific inquiry further, providing greater understanding of how a brain creates a mind and how the mind thinks and acts. Such an understanding addresses vital U.S. interests, including but not limited to science, medicine, economic growth, security and well-being.

GREAT APE TRUST BACKGROUND

Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a scientific research facility in southeast Des Moines dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence. When completed, Great Ape Trust will be the largest great ape facility in North America and one of the first worldwide to include all four types of great ape – bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans – for noninvasive interdisciplinary studies of their cognitive and communicative capabilities.

Great Ape Trust is dedicated to providing sanctuary and an honorable life for great apes, studying the intelligence of great apes, advancing conservation of great apes and providing unique educational experiences about great apes. Great Ape Trust of Iowa is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization and is certified by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). To learn more about Great Ape Trust of Iowa, go to www.GreatApeTrust.org.