Savage-Rumbaugh (1986) Flashcards
What is the design of the study/what type of experiment was it?
It was a quasi laboratory experiment, it was also a longitudinal case study
What was the aim of the study?
To compare acquisition of language by Pygmy chimps in relation to common chimps, and in the absence of formal teaching
How many participants were there?
4 chimpanzees 2 Pygmy (Kanzi and Mulika) 2 common (Austin and Sherman)
What was the independent and dependent variable?
Independent: species of chimpanzee
Dependent: language acquisition
At what age did Kanzi start to spontaneously acquire symbol use?
Two and a half years old
How long was Kanzi studied for?
17 months
How old was Mulika when she started using symbols?
Eleven months old
Where was Kanzi born?
The yerkes regional primate centre
At what age was Kanzi assigned to the research centre?
6months old and he was reared in a language using environment with humans
Over what period were the common chimps taught to use language?
8 years
How were utterances recorded inside?
Kanzi used a battery powered keyboard with geometric symbols which brightened when touched. A speech synthesiser then spoke the word of the chosen symbol
Automised computer record was kept of all utterances made indoors
How were utterances recorded outdoors?
Kanzi had a laminated copy of the keyboard which was used as a pointing board
Observers made notes of his utterances
What was kanzis outdoor environment like?
55 acres of land/forest
Specific food types placed at 17 different locations, Kanzi had to travel to get desired food
What human activities did the chimps do?
Indoors, chimps were asked to assist with activities such as changing bed sheets, doing laundry and preparing food
How were utterances scored? (Accuracy and context)
Accuracy: correct or incorrect
Context: spontaneous, imitated or symtructured
How were words in a chimps vocabulary operationalised?
Must be context appropriate
Naturally occurring situations
Spontaneously produced on 9/10 occasions
Verified by behavioural concordance
Behavioural concordance was achieved on 9/10 occasions
Behavioural concordance was not inevitable
What was done to ensure recordings of vocabulary were reliable?
4.5 hours of videotape was watched by two observers (in real time this was scored by an observer, who was unaware a videotape would be scored) their scoring identified 37 utterances by Kanzi. There was a 100% agreement on symbols used and whether they were in correct context
Only one disagreement over whether an utterance was spontaneous or structured
9 new utterances identified by new observers that were not seen in real time observation, all nine were correct and eight were spontaneous
What were the formal tests conducted on Kanzi and Mulika?
Photograph to lexigram
Spoken English to photograph
Spoken English to lexigram
Synthesised speech to lexigram
What were the controls to ensure validity?
- Order and presentation of stimuli was varied to avoid cues and same stimulus was never presented consecutively on two trials
- number of alternatives, 3/4 choices were given for possible responses on each trial
- photographs of target items, food type varied in each photo
- response items could not be seen by the experimenter which ensured no accidental cues were given to the right answer
- Voice synthesiser to ensure Kanzi responded to speech and not human intonation
What type of data was gathered?
Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered
Describe the observational data?
Kanzi and Millikan started using gestures spontaneously eg to obtain help
Gestures were iconic (twisting movements to open jar, hitting motions to open a nut) Pygmy gestures were more informative than common chimps
