Savage-Rumbaugh (1986)

Question 0

What is the design of the study/what type of experiment was it?

Answer 0

It was a quasi laboratory experiment, it was also a longitudinal case study

Question 1

What was the aim of the study?

Answer 1

To compare acquisition of language by Pygmy chimps in relation to common chimps, and in the absence of formal teaching

Question 2

How many participants were there?

Answer 2

4 chimpanzees
2 Pygmy (Kanzi and Mulika)
2 common (Austin and Sherman)

Question 3

What was the independent and dependent variable?

Answer 3

Independent: species of chimpanzee
Dependent: language acquisition

Question 4

At what age did Kanzi start to spontaneously acquire symbol use?

Answer 4

Two and a half years old

Question 5

How long was Kanzi studied for?

Answer 5

17 months

Question 6

How old was Mulika when she started using symbols?

Answer 6

Eleven months old

Question 7

Where was Kanzi born?

Answer 7

The yerkes regional primate centre

Question 8

At what age was Kanzi assigned to the research centre?

Answer 8

6months old and he was reared in a language using environment with humans

Question 9

Over what period were the common chimps taught to use language?

Answer 9

8 years

Question 10

How were utterances recorded inside?

Answer 10

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

Question 11

How were utterances recorded outdoors?

Answer 11

Kanzi had a laminated copy of the keyboard which was used as a pointing board
Observers made notes of his utterances

Question 12

What was kanzis outdoor environment like?

Answer 12

55 acres of land/forest

Specific food types placed at 17 different locations, Kanzi had to travel to get desired food

Question 13

What human activities did the chimps do?

Answer 13

Indoors, chimps were asked to assist with activities such as changing bed sheets, doing laundry and preparing food

Question 14

How were utterances scored? (Accuracy and context)

Answer 14

Accuracy: correct or incorrect
Context: spontaneous, imitated or symtructured

Question 15

How were words in a chimps vocabulary operationalised?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What was done to ensure recordings of vocabulary were reliable?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What were the formal tests conducted on Kanzi and Mulika?

Answer 17

Photograph to lexigram
Spoken English to photograph
Spoken English to lexigram
Synthesised speech to lexigram

Question 18

What were the controls to ensure validity?

Answer 18

• 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

Question 19

What type of data was gathered?

Answer 19

Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered

Question 20

Describe the observational data?

Answer 20

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