Parrots have much in common with toddlers. The brainy birds can learn to recognize colors and shapes, manipulate objects, build large vocabularies and make their needs known at improbably high volumes. They are also playful, intelligent and curious; without ample cognitive enrichment, they quickly become bored.
So owners of pet parrots sometimes turn to a strategy familiar to parents: reaching for the closest available screen. And some owners have found that they can keep their birds occupied with mobile games, drawing apps and music-making programs designed for young children. “Kids apps are quite popular,” said Rébecca Kleinberger, a scientist at Northeastern University who studies how animals interact with technology.
But apps designed for humans may not be ideal for parrots, which tend to use their tongues to interact with touch screens. That results in a variety of unique touch behaviors, Dr. Kleinberger and her colleagues reported in a new study. The results suggest mobile apps have potential as an enrichment tool for parrots, but they should be tailored to the birds’ specific biology.
“How do we make technology work for their unique bodies and their unique needs?” Dr. Kleinberger said.
To conduct the study, the scientists created a customized version of a mobile app designed to help researchers and designers collect information about how humans interact with touch screens. The owners of 20 pet parrots encouraged the birds to touch the circles by doling out treats. The parrots were less accurate than humans, but performed well enough that it was clear they were not randomly tapping at the screen.
The birds also used lighter pressure than human users, which meant that the software did not always register their taps, frustrating the birds, Dr. Kleinberger said. They also more often dragged their touches, moving their tongues across the screen before picking them up again. The researchers also found that whereas humans tend to get faster when the targets are moved closer together, for the parrots there appeared to be a built-in lag between hitting the targets, even those close together.
Many parrot owners reported that their birds appeared to enjoy using the app, although some birds seemed to lose interest over time. Dr. Kleinberger said she hoped that designing software specifically for parrots might help boost the birds’ engagement and enjoyment.
