Lecture 3 - Ape language and the brain Flashcards
1
Q
Kellogg 1930 study?
A
- looked at Gua = chimpanzee
- he was raised as a child (enculturated)
- however he never produced intelligible words
- was not an ethical study
2
Q
Hayes 1950 study?
A
- looked at Viki a chimpanzee
- raised as a child
- given reinforcement training
- after 7 years of training could only articulate 4 words
3
Q
Washoe?
A
- was a sign language trained chimpanzee
- produced around 150-250 ASL signs
- could understand hundreds of signs
- used signs with other chimpanzees
- also showed creativity in sign production e.g. signed water and bird for swan
4
Q
Nim Chimpsky?
A
- a chimpanzee raised as a human child
- produced around 350 ASL signs
- his signs were not like language
- they were imitative, imperative and lacked syntax
- his learning was slow compared to human children
- ethical implications
5
Q
Kanzi?
A
- a language trained bonobo
- understood at least 3000 spoken words
- learned to communicate with a lexigram board = 348 symbols on a screen that represent things
- ethical issues = he became overweight
6
Q
Do apes really have language?
A
- they have good comprehension but limited production
- apes mainly use it to make demands, not to communicate = imperative signalling
- limited combinatorial skills (syntax)
- slow acquisition and require rewards
7
Q
Where is Broca’s area and why is it important?
A
- its found in the inferior frontal gyrus of the front lobe in the left hemisphere
- is important for language production + speech
8
Q
Canatalupo and Hopkins 2001 study?
A
- conducted MRI scans in the brains of 27 captive apes
- found evidence of Broca’s area in their left hemisphere
9
Q
Where is Wernicke’s area and why is it important?
A
- located in the temporoparietal junction of the posterior superior temporal lobe
- is important for the perception of speech, phonological processing and language comprehension
10
Q
Spocter et al 2010 study?
A
- examined the brains of 12 chimpanzees
- found evidence of Broca’s and Wernickes area
11
Q
Ape brains and language evolution?
A
- neuroscience research shows that gestures are critical to language evolution
- handedness shows strong brain asymmetries in areas supporting manual action
- progressive combination of gestures and vocalisations likely supported evolution of language as multi modal system
12
Q
Taglialatela 2008 study?
A
- used PET scans on the brains of 3 chimpanzees after a task where they tried to get an experimenter to access out of reach food
- their Broca’s homolog was activated during these tasks
- then they PET scanned 4 chimpanzees, 2 were gesture only and 2 were multimodal
- the chimps who were multimodal had greater activity in their Broca’s area
