Animal intelligence and language

Question 1

How did Skinner display conditioning in pigeons

Answer 1

taught to play ping pong

Question 2

how may rats be trained in a beneficial way

Answer 2

detecting landmines
detecting disease

Question 3

how may dogs be trained to be used beneficially

Answer 3

sniffer dogs
service animals
herding
husbandry

Question 4

what may token economies be used for

Answer 4

behaviour modification

Question 5

who may token economies be beneficial for

Answer 5

ADHD
tantrums

Question 6

what is the token known as and why

Answer 6

a secondary reinforcer - exchanged for primary reinforcer

Question 7

advantages of using secondary reinforcers

Answer 7

reduces delays between responses and reinforcement
can reward small improvements

Question 8

evidence for token economies in drivers

Answer 8

-drivers exposed to token economy and verbal feedback reduced speeding significantly
-drivers exposed to verbal feedback alone, only reduced as much as control

Question 9

evidence against use of token economies (Glynn 1990)

Answer 9

task - recommend product to friend
those who were paid wrote low quality, shorter recommendations

Question 10

examples of social reinforcers

Answer 10

Smile, praise, nod, affectionate touch

Question 11

advantages of using social reinforcers

Answer 11

easy and quick
response given immediately after desired behaviour

Question 12

what is cognitive behaviour modification

Answer 12

Modification of thoughts, beliefs and attitudes, as well as of behaviour

Question 13

how was cognitive behaviour modification shown through therapy

Answer 13

told improvement was due to either the treatment or own willpower
greater long term improvement when told improvement due to willpower

Question 14

how may phobias arise

Answer 14

-classical conditioning
-evolutionary history

Question 15

evidence of phobias as a result of evolution

Answer 15

inducing phobias through conditioning
cs- snakes, spiders - fast and hard to extinguish compared to flowers and houses

Question 16

explain the process of systematic desensitisation

Answer 16

Draw up anxiety hierarchy
Learn relaxation technique
Relax and experience lowest in hierarchy
If successful, move up hierarchy until no fear experienced

Question 16

evidence of natural concepts in pigeons

Answer 16

Learnt to discriminate pictures of trees, bodies of water
Have large concepts of natural landscapes

Question 16

evidence against Bischof-Kohler hypothesis

Answer 16

Scrub-Jays - shown food and compartments with no food on different days
when shown no food - birds would begin to store their food

Question 16

how has systematic desensitisation been adapted for phobias associated with autism

Answer 16

using virtual reality - may have a difficult time imagining a scene

Question 17

what did Darwin think about animal reasoning

Answer 17

Animals do have reasoning
continuity between humans and other species

Question 17

what is the Bischof-Kohler hypothesis

Answer 17

Only humans can dissociate themselves from their current motivation and take action for future needs

Question 18

what does insight learning involve

Answer 18

sudden solution to a problem

Question 19

evidence of insight learning from Kohler

Answer 19

chimpanzees use boxes to build towers when presented with hanging food

Question 20

evidence of insight learning from Epstein

Answer 20

box moved in order to peck banana based on previous experience

Question 21

evidence of self concept in pigeons

Answer 21

Discriminate video images that reflect their movements with 5-7 second delay from images that do not

Question 22

Findings of chimp Vicki

Answer 22

Attempted to teach chimp language but failed
Vocal apparatus was not designed for speech
Few words e.g. mama, papa (few syllables)

Question 23

findings of Chimp Washoe

Answer 23

Taught ASL - thousands of signs
learnt based on rewards

Question 24

findings of chimp Nim

Answer 24

Meaning of signs could be ambiguous
Could include semantics - made sense in their context