Savage-Rumbaugh Flashcards
Aim?
To investigate whether apes could comprehend spoken English without being trained following the progress of two Pygmy chimpanzee
Prompted by?
Gardner and Gardner study on teaching apes sign language
How many Pygmy chimpanzees?
3; Kanzi, Mulika and Kanzi’s mum
Normal chimpanzees?
2; Austin and Sherman
How old was Kanzi?
4 years old
How long was the study?
17 months
How old were the normal chimpanzees?
9 and 10
Case study?
4 chimpanzees
Communication system?
Lexigram
What is a lexigram?
Connected to voice synthesiser and consists of geometric symbols
What did Kanzi recognise on the lexigram board?
Apple and banana
Key difference of Sherman and Austin?
Were introduced to lexigrams in training, rather than in the environment
Sherman and Austin; key board?
Key board did not have a speech synthesiser
Sherman and Austin also didn’t?
Did not use the keyboard outside the lab
Outdoor environment?
55 acres of forest
Why did Kanzi go in the forest?
Kanzi had to get food around the forest
Kanzi given people to go around?
Kanzi blind test to guide people round forest using photos and the lexigram
Data recording?
Kanzi started using lexigrams at 2.5 years old
Vocabulary acquisition criteria?
Confirming that the chimps has learnt new words and could reproduce them accurately
Formal tests?
Through observation and in everyday environment e.g if items on floor they may be asked to pick them up in a certain order
Results 1?
Spontaneous utterances accounted for more than 80% of Kanzi’s single word and combination utterances
Results 2?
Some of Kanzi’s 3 word utterances did something no other chimp has done before
Which two chimpanzees were more quick at learning lexigrams?
Kanzi and Mulika compared to Sherman and Austin
Which chimpanzees were more able to comprehend spoken language?
Kanzi and Mulika
Ecological validity?
Bad environment not natural at all (similar for humans) not natural for Pygmy chimpanzees
