Lecture 25 Flashcards
Comparative Cognition
What are some challenges in studying complex cognition in animals?
Overcoming anthropocentricity, defining cognitive processes, and determining quantitative or qualitative differences.
What is the “Clever Hans” effect?
It refers to a situation where an animal appears to perform a cognitive task but is actually responding to cues given, often unconsciously, by humans.
How do non-human animals typically communicate?
Through smells, sounds, and gestures. Examples include:
* Bees: Waggle dance * Dogs: Gestures and odours * Whales and dolphins: Clicks and whistles * Vervet monkeys: Different vocalizations for specific threats
What is required for communication to be considered language?
Learning a set of abstract or arbitrary symbols
* Using these symbols to express thoughts or indicate objects/events * Learning rules associated with the order of these symbols (syntax) * Using syntax to generate different meaningful sentences
What were the outcomes of early studies trying to teach apes to speak?
Gua (Kelloggs, 1933): Understood some commands but did not speak English.
* Vicki (Hayes, 1951): Learned three words (“papa,” “mama,” and “cup”) with difficulty.
Why are chimpanzees not suited for human speech?
Due to anatomical differences such as:
* Teeth are upright and evenly spaced * Mouth is relatively small but can open and shut rapidly * Highly developed lip muscles * Thick, muscular, and highly mobile tongue
What was significant about the Gardners and Washoe’s sign language experiment?
Washoe learned about 160 signs and made combinations like “more fruit” and “out open please hurry.”
* Washoe’s learning environment was rich in language stimulation.
What were Terrace’s findings on Nim Chimpsky’s sign language abilities?
Low number of morphemes per utterance
* Less informative communications compared to children * No evidence of syntactic organization * Many signings were cued by the human teacher
What is Yerkish, and who developed it?
Yerkish is a symbol-based language developed by Duane Raumbaugh for chimpanzees like Lana, Austin, and Sherman.
What are some achievements of Kanzi, the pygmy chimp (bonobo)?
Learned a lexigram vocabulary of about 200 symbols
* Refers to objects not present * Understands about 500 spoken words * Shows some understanding of syntax * His abilities are comparable to a 2 to 2.5-year-old human child
