Lecture 4 - Self and Communication Flashcards
Do animals understand minds in the same way we do?
Do they have a sense of self?
Do they make inferences about the mental states of others?
Do they have theory of mind?
Self-directed actions - Mirror tests
assumed indicator of self-knowledge
might recognise the other as being itself so has a sense of self
Chimpanzees and the mirror test
First think it is another ape so aversion to eye contact
Eventually calms and used the mirror for self-inspection - not necessarily indicating self recognition
Mirror aided grooming or just grooming in front of the mirror
Mark tests with mirrors
Povinelli et al - 1997
marked chimps face above ear and eye
Frequency of touching the marks increased with the presence of a mirror
Unusually large results - but they were aware of themselves
Mirror tests in humans
pass these tests in the 2nd year of life
Exposure and experience with mirrors may effect this
An adult who has never seen a mirror is not likely to recognise themselves
Mirror test on pigeons
Epstein et al - 1981
Trained to peck visible dot on chest
Pigeons then pecked at dots on body that were obscured by a bib, but visible in a mirror
If you can get pigeons to do it is not necessarily a high level cognitive ability
Evidence for deception from observations
Take perspective of the other monkeys
Lack of control - no history or what would happen in different circumstances
cherry picking - wide spread behaviour or rare to the monkey observed
Evidence of deception found from experiments
no theory of mind is needed in the task were lights show when to point to food or not
Chimps didn’t reliably learn to beg the attentive trainer
Simple discrimination
Communication in honeybees
The waggle dance
Shows direction and distance of food from the sun
Alarm calls in Vervet monkeys
Specific to the danger approaching
prior experience to one alarm call diminished responding to the other
Why don’t alarm calls imply language
Don’t require theory of mind or intentional communication
might only reflect the animals own state
Just a form of communication that suits the species
Productivity of language
Combining words to make meaningful phrases
Rather than combining words, non-human animals are simply saying what they see
no evidence of syntax or meaning conveyed by order
Possible reasons for the lack of language
Animals lack the necessary cognitive mechanisms (language production module, abstract thought)
They are not sufficiently motivated
They lack the exposure to language that humans have
We have yet to test their abilities adequately
