Pepperberg (aishah) [done] Flashcards
what the aim
To see whether a parrot could use vocal labels to demonstrate a symbolic understanding of the concepts “same” and “different”
describe Alex
he was an African Grey parrot
- was involved in research on communication and cognition for the past 10 years.
- already had a good vocabulary of English words
- knew a few colors: green, yellow, blue, rose (red)
- shapes: 2-corner, 3-corner, 4-corner, 5-corner
- material: wood, cork, hide, paper
- Alex could respond to verbal prompts:
- Alex could combine responses to label new items
- Alex could communicate intention (like: could request a particular object or to go to a particular place in the room)
conclusion of the study?
1) Parrots have the potential to demonstrate the comprehension of the symbolic concepts of “same” and “different”.
2) Parrots may learn to respond to verbal questions to vocalise categorical variables.
discuss about the validity of this study
- Question order & items were selected randomly by a student who had no connection to the study.
- The secondary trainer conducting the trials had not trained Alex previously on the same/different task.
Whats the IV and DV of this study
IV = whether the object is familiar or new.
DV = whether the parrot responds correctly to the questions about ‘what’s same’ and ‘what’s different’ or not.
what were the results related to familiar objects
- correctly responded to 99 out of 129 trials
- scored 69 out of 99 on first-trial responses.
results on novel objects?
- scored 96 out of 113 correct responses overall
-Scored 79 out of 96 on first-trial responses
what are the strengths of this study
- measures were taken to ensure the study was valid by limiting researcher bias.
- trainer conducting the trials had not trained alex on the same/different task. this means that demand characteristics were limited.
- quantitative data was collected which allows us to objectively analyse whether alex could think abstractly.
what things were always available for Alex
Water and a standard seed mix for psittacids (sunflower seeds, dried com, kibble, oats, safflower, etc.)
we know that using animals is research can lead to many ethical problems, why was this worst because of the use of a parrot?
parrots have injured themselves due to boredom when stuck in captivity.
what steps were taken to reduce Alex’s boredom?
- varied Alex’s training times, testing schedules and locations for testing as well as conducting simultaneous studies at the same time (so they wouldn’t just be asking the same questions over and over again).
describe the procedure of this study
- In each trial, Alex was presented with two objects that could differ in one of three categories: shape, color, and material.
- In some trials, Alex was asked by the trainer, “what’s the same?” and “what’s different?”
a. Researchers were only interested in data from same/different questions, but asked other questions to prevent boredom like: what color, how many, what shape - The correct response would be for Alex to name the categories that were the same and/or different.
- The task would either involve pairs of familiar items: family trial OR one or both item which he had not yet encountered in training: novel trial.
- The principal trainer was present in each trial, but sat facing away from Alex and was not able to see the objects (reducing demand characteristics)
- After each trial the trainer repeated the vocalisation aloud
- If the answer was right the first time, he was rewarded with praise and given the items and the response counted as the “first trial” response rate
- If the answer was incorrect or indistinct, he was told “No!” and had the object removed while the trainer turned their head away (time-out)
- Correction procedure (same objects, same questions) was repeated until the correct response was given and a number of errors was recorded
how often was the training conducted and how long did it last
- 2 – 4 times per week
- 5 minutes to 1 hour
what were some other questions asked other than the main questions and why were they asked?
- What colour?
- How many?
- What shape?
they were asked to prevent boredom effects
what were the main questions used in this study
“What’s same” & “What’s different”
describe the use of probes
Alex might not be attending to the questions but merely responding to the physical characteristics of the objects.
Thus, at random intervals, probes were administered in which he was asked questions for which two category labels could be the correct response.
If he were ignoring the content of the question and answering on the basis of attributes, he would have responded with an incorrect answer.
how long did he have to train to get the labels right
The training for Alex to acquire “colour” and “shape” as labels took 4 months and for “mah-mah” it took 9 months.
types of trials?
Novel: He had never seen the object
Familiar: He went through familiarisation
what are the limitations of using animals in researches?
Researchers had to devise a method for testing the cognitive abilities of the animal without having direct access to that animal’s understanding
ethical concerns around keeping an animal in captivity away from its natural environment and engaging it in artificial tasks such as imitating human speech
why was the test delayed?
It was important in terms of validity that alex’s responses could be understood.
If testing had been started earlier, and any sounds alex made that were a bit like “matter” were counted as correct, this may have resulted in an over estimate of his ability
what method was used to train Alex
model rival method
what are the disadvantages
- lack of ecological validity
· lacks mundane realism
· low generalizability
BG?
Non-human primates have cognitive capacity to express abstract ideas and meaningful sentences
comprehension of same/different has been singled out as a concept not typically attributable to non-primates
pigeons acquired a concept of same but not different
none of the studies shown actual labeling of the relation of sameness or differences
What Pepperberg said that Alex did not show?
Did not show whether a non-human can understand and use ABSTRACT symbolic relationships when communicating, e.g. same/different comprehension
describe the training method of this study
model rival approach:
1. Primary trainer asks questions, second trainer answers (Model)
- The parrot (Rival) fights for attention
*These roles are reversed
*This is continuous reinforcement
whats the weakness of this study considering reliability
- Fatigue effects
Tried to lower them by asking other questions such as: What colour? How many? What shape? - Performed an uneven number of trials for each one
