LEARNING: Pepperberg Flashcards
what is the aim?
to see whether a parrot could use vocal labels to demonstrate a symbolic understanding of the concepts ‘same’ and ‘different’
what is the research method and design?
animal case study
lab experiment
what is the sample?
a African grey parrot named Alex
he had been involved in prior research on communication and cognition
during the day he had free access to the lab
at night he was confined to a wire cage
he was fed a suitable diet including nuts and sunflower seeds
he had toys to play with like paper and keys
what colors did Alex already know?
red, yellow, green, blue and grey
what shapes did Alex already know?
square and triangle
what materials did Alex already know?
wood, paper, hide, cork and some metals
how many times a week were sessions
2-4 times a week
what was the training technique used?
model/rival approach
what is the model/rival approach?
one person acts as a trainer to the other person
second human is a model
person shows objects to second person and asks questions and praised desired responses
if Alex offers the correct answer he is praised instead of the human model
roles of trainer/model is reversed and continuous reinforcement is used
the trainer would ask the model ‘what is the same?’ or ‘what is different?’
rewarded with the object for correct answer and scolded and have object taken away from them for incorrect answer
what was the task?
the study was delayed until Alex could say matter (used to say mah-mah)
secondary trainers tested Alex to prevent bias
questions were asked in random order and questions like what color, shape or how many were asked to prevent boredom
Alex was presented with 2 objects with 1 difference (color shape or matter) and there were familiar and novel objects
praised if correct
told ‘NO!’ and scolded if incorrect
what were the results in familiar trials?
99/129 overall
69/99 first trail
he would sometimes ask for another object to avoid responding with the ‘wrong’ answer
what were the results in novel trials?
to see if Alex could generalize his understanding
96/113 overall and did better on novel than familiar
79/96 first trial
Alex might have been more motivated for the novel objects as he was curious to investigate them
what are the conclusions?
parrots have the potential to use vocal labels to demonstrate a symbolic understanding of the concepts ‘same’ and ‘different’
