Chapter 8 - Language & Animals Flashcards
(16 cards)
To which animal species have scientists tried to teach language-like skills?
-dolphins
-sea lions
-an African grey parrot
-apes
-chimpanzees
which animal species was most successfully in developing language-like skills?
the chimpanzee - an intelligent primate regarded as humans’ closest cousin
why were early attempts to teach chimps to speak unsuccessful?
chimps do not have the appropriate vocal apparatus to produce human speech
what alternative communication method did researchers (Allen and Beatrice Gardner, 1967) use with chimps?
American Sign Language (ASL).
What was the name of the chimpanzee in the Gardners’ study?
Washoe
How many words did Washoe learn to sign in 4 years?
about 160 words
Reality Check!!!
Misconception: only humans can learn language
Reality: over the last 50 years, researchers have helped a variety of animals to acquire some rudimentary language skills (including dolphins, sea lions, apes, chimps, a parrot)
What criticism did Herbert Terrace (1986) make about chimps like Washoe learning ASL?
He argued that their ability to sign sentences was due to imitation and operant conditioning, which does not show evidence of mastering rules of language.
What species did Sue Savage-Rumbaugh study in more recent language studies?
Bonobo pygmy chimpanzees
how did Savage-Rumbaugh’s bonobos communicate with their caretakers?
by touching geometric symbols that represented words on a computer-monitored keyboard.
Who was Savage-Rumbaugh’s most famous bonobo subject?
Kanzi, although many of his accomplishments were duplicated by his younger sister, Panbanisha.
How many words did Kanzi acquire?
Kanzi acquired hundreds of words and used them in thousands of spontaneous combinations, many of them seeming to follow grammatical rules - for example, he could differentiate between symbol combinations like “to chase” vs. “be chased”.
How was Kanzi’s comprehension of spoken English tested at age 9?
He was given 660 spoken instructions, including novel and non-obvious ones, and correctly followed 72% of them.
What example was given to demonstrate how Kanzi could understand sentence structure?
he demonstrated remarkable understanding of sentence structure, as he could reliably distinguish the actions requested by “pour the coke in the lemonade”, as opposed to “pour the lemonade in the coke”.
What concerns were raised by critics like Wynne (2004) about Kanzi’s abilities?
critics are skeptical about the scoring system used to determine whether Kanzi “understood” the oral requests and they have questioned whether Kanzi’s communications demonstrate all the basic properties of a language.
What general conclusions can be made about chimps’ language abilities?
chimpanzees and other apes may use very basic language, but human language is vastly more advanced in fluency, flexibility, and complexity.
a typical human toddler quickly surpasses even the most successfully trained chimpanzees in language mastery.
