Psyc 103 - Introduction To Principles Of Behavior

Front 1

An increase in the tendency to approach an object as a consequence of observing another
animal interact with it is known as:

Back 1

stimulus enhancement

Front 2

According to Galef and Durlach (1993) the preference for a flavor that a rat develops if it
smells that flavor on a conspecific’s breath is a consequence of:

Back 2

Associating the flavor with the conspecific’s breath

Front 3

Galef (1988) trained experimental rats to run from a start box into three goal boxes, each of
which contained different flavored food. During a test, the experimental rat was confined to a
start box with a conspecific rat who had just eaten food of the flavor in one of the goal boxes.
When released into the maze, the experimental rat:

Back 3

Was more likely to run to the goal box containing the food the conspecific had eaten

Front 4

White and Galef (1999a, 1999b) presented male and female Japanese quail observers to a
member of the opposite sex that was either on its own, or accompanied by a member of the
same sex as the observer. The results revealed that the male observer:

Back 4

Preferred the female presented on its own, the female observer preferred the male
presented with another female

Front 5

According to Mineka and Cook (1988) an acquired fear of snakes in an observer is a
consequence of Pavlovian conditioning, the snake is the (i) ________ and the model’s fear
response is the (ii) _____.

Back 5

(i) Conditioned stimulus, (ii) Unconditioned stimulus

Front 6

Imitation refers to responses that have been copied that:

Back 6

Lead to reward

Front 7

Mimicry poses a challenge to theories of instrumental conditioning, for it is a demonstration
of the acquisition of a response in the absence of:

Back 7

Reinforcement

Front 8

Sherry and Galef (1984) proposed that birds learn to break through the foil tops of milk
bottles through a process of:

Back 8

Social enhancement and Pavlovian conditioning

Front 9

According to Nagell, Olguin and Tomasello (1993), which of the following is not a property of
a population-specific behavioral tradition?

Back 9

Behaviors that are innate

Front 10

According to Nagell, Olguin and Tomasello (1993), the act of potato washing by Japanese
macaques is due, in part, to:

Back 10

Stimulus enhancement

Front 11

Training in which an experimenter requires an animal to copy their novel response after a
phrase is known as the ____________ (e.g. Hayes and Hayes , 1952).

Back 11

Do as I do test

Front 12

Heyes and Dawson (1990) describe an experiment in which an observer watched a
demonstrator being rewarded for pushing a pole to the left, but not the right. When the
observer was allowed to push the pole, he did so in the same manner as the demonstrator.
What problem did Mitchell et al. (1999) identify with this study?

Back 12

The demonstrators left odor cues on the side of the pole that they had pushed

Front 13

The two-action control technique for demonstrating imitations requires a model animal to:

Back 13

Perform different actions on the same manipulandum

Front 14

In a demonstration of emulation by Call, Carpenter and Tomasello (2005), an observer
chimpanzee watched a demonstrator open a tube by either breaking it, or by removing the end
caps. When the observers were given the tube, the manner in which they opened it was:

Back 14

Similar but not identical to the response they observed

Front 15

Mirror neurons have the property of:

Back 15

Firing either when an animal performs a particular action, or observes the action being
performed

Front 16

Paukner et al. (2005) gave monkeys a wooden cube to play with while facing two
experimenters who each held a similar cube. One of the experimenters copied the actions of
the monkey, the other experimenter performed different actions. It was found that the
monkeys:

Back 16

Spent most of their time looking at the experimenter who was imitating them

Front 17

The attribution of a mental state to another individual is called:

Back 17

A theory of mind

Front 18

Who investigated whether chimpanzees were capable of deception by arranging for
cooperative and competitive trainers to interact with the animals?

Back 18

Woodroof and Premack (1979)

Front 19

Byrne and Whiten (1985, 1987) describe the behavior of a strong baboon who, after
antagonizing a subordinate, appeared to deceive other members of his troop to avoid
punishment by engaging in behavior that is typical when one baboon notices a predator.
According to Byrne and Whiten, this behavior was based upon:

Back 19

A theory of mind

Front 20

Povinelli, Nelson and Boysen (1990) conducted an experiment with chimps in which food
was hidden under one of four cups. Two trainers each pointed at one cup. A "knower" who the
chimp had observed to hide the food, pointed at the correct cup, and a "guesser", who had
been out of the room pointed at another cup. The chimpanzee:

Back 20

After many hundred trials, showed a preference for the "knower’s" cup

Front 21

Nissani (2004) demonstrated that older chimpanzees and elephants will not engage in
begging gestures towards humans if the human is wearing a bucket over their head. Instead of
appealing to the animals’ possessing a theory of mind, these result may be due to the animals:

Back 21

Having learned that begging behavior is only rewarded when the eyes are visible

Front 22

Who suggested that it is reasonable to conclude that chimpanzees, at least, lack a theory
of mind insofar as it allows them to attribute knowledge to others?

Back 22

Heyes (1998)

Front 23

Emery and Clayton (2001) allowed experimental scrub jays to cache food. If this caching
was completed whilst the experimental bird was being observed by another scrub jay, it would
later move the food to another location, particularly if the experimental bird:

Back 23

Had itself pilfered from the caches of other birds

Front 24

Upon being given a mirror chimpanzees will, with experience:

Back 24

Inspect otherwise unseen areas of their body

Front 25

Povinelli et al. (1997) applied a colored dye to different regions of chimpanzees’ faces and
measured the number of times the animal touched these and other control regions during a
baseline period, and during a period when they were positioned in front of a mirror. The results
indicated that the animal:

Back 25

Touched the marked regions more frequently only when in front of the mirror

Front 26

According to Anderson and Gallup (1997) and Povinelli (2000), the ability to use mirrors to
provide information about their own bodies is limited to:

Back 26

The great apes

Front 27

Which of the following animals have been shown to use a mirror to direct responses to
parts of their body?

Back 27

All of these

Front 28

According to Povinelli (2000), Chimpanzees have acquired a body concept:

Back 28

To help them plan their movements through the jungle

Front 29

Stimulus enhancement effects have been demonstrated in which of the following animals:

Back 29

All of these

Front 30

Learning about the properties of objects by observing another animal is known as _____
learning.

Back 30

Emulation

Front 31

Von Frisch (1950) discovered that, upon returning to the hive with food, a worker honey-bee
will perform a "waggle dance" if food is located more than 100 meters away from the hive. The
form of this dance provides______information about the food.

Back 31

Distance and direction

Front 32

According to Gould (1986), when a recruit observes a waggle dance, she identifies ______
where food is located.

Back 32

On a cognitive map

Front 33

Gould and Gould (1988) took the pupa of one race of honey-bees and placed them in the
colony of another. When they hatched, their behavior was:

Back 33

More like that of their genetic sisters, and not their foster sisters

Front 34

Baptista and Petrinovich (1984) showed that when white-crowned sparrows were raised in
the company of strawberry finches, the sparrows:

Back 34

Were able to learn the song of the finch

Front 35

According to Petrinovich (1988), white-crowned sparrows will learn the song from a live
tutor better than a tape recording, because the song of the tutor:

Back 35

Is constantly changing

Front 36

Cheney and Seyfarth (1988) examined the alarm calls of ______ to different potential
predators.

Back 36

Vervet monkeys

Front 37

According to Seyfarth and Cheney (2003) the alarm call made for a predator will activate:

Back 37

A representation of the predator

Front 38

In studies of communication, a greater number of signals made by an animal when it is near
conspecifics than when it is alone is called:

Back 38

An audience effect

Front 39

Hostetter, Cantero and Hopkins (2001) describe an experiment in which a person held a
banana just beyond the reach of a chimpanzee. If the person had their back to the chimp it
would (i) _____, if the person was facing the chimp it would (ii)______.

Back 39

(i) Produce a vocalization, (ii) Produce a hand gesture

Front 40

Which of the following is not a criterion that communication must fulfil if it is to be
considered a language?

Back 40

Understandability

Front 41

Wood (1973) describes a study in which a female dolphin was presented with steady and
intermittent lights. A male dolphin, who was out of sight of the female, had to press panel A
during the steady light and panel B during the intermittent light, for both of the dolphins to be
fed. The male did this whilst the female made different sounds during the two lights. Boakes
and Gaertner (1977) interpret this result as an example of:

Back 41

Discrimination learning

Front 42

According to Duchin (1990) a major constraint on the ability of chimpanzees to produce
human speech is its:

Back 42

Tongue

Front 43

The chimpanzee trained by Gardner and Gardner (1969) to use American sign language
was called:

Back 43

Washoe

Front 44

Premack (1971, 1976) trained an ape, Sarah, with different plastic objects that varied in
shape, color and size to represent 130 different words. To create an acceptable sentence,
these objects had be placed in a vertical column in:

Back 44

A grammatically correct sequence

Front 45

Who investigated the linguistic abilities of a chimpanzee, Kanzi, with artificial words called
lexigrams?

Back 45

Rumbaugh and Savage-Rumbaugh (1994)

Front 46

Brakke and Savage-Rumbaugh (1995) compared the linguistic abilities of a common with
a bonobo chimpanzee. They showed that the bonobo:

Back 46

Was able to respond to more complex commands and had a larger vocabulary

Front 47

Savage-Rumbaugh et al. (1983) trained two chimpanzees to communicate with an
experimenter. Both animals had to request a food item that was out of sight and out of reach.
Which criterion for a language does this communication meet?

Back 47

Displacement

Front 48

A chimpanzee called Nim was trained by Terrace (1979) to produce the correct sign
language for "apple" and "banana". Upon being given both of these fruits by his trainer, and
being asked to give the trainer an apple, Nim:

Back 48

Was unable to respond correctly

Front 49

Experiments by Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1993) with a bonobo chimpanzee have
investigated sentence comprehension by manipulating the _______ of the sentence.

Back 49

Structure

Front 50

Fouts (1975) describes an instance in which a trainer placed a doll in a cup and asked her
ape, Washoe, to sign about it. In response Washoe:

Back 50

Signed "baby in my cup"

Front 51

Terrace et al. (1979) showed that the average length of the utterances made by a normal
child and a deaf child (i)_______with age, the average length of the utterances made by the
chimpanzee Nim (ii) _________ with age.

Back 51

(i) increased (ii) remained about the same

Front 52

In a study of the sign language used by five chimpanzees, Rivas (2005) showed that 86%
of their utterances were:

Back 52

Requests

Front 53

Pepperberg and McLaughlin (1996) report that if ______ is kept to a minimum during the
course of training then African Grey parrots make little progress with learning to speak the
names of objects.

Back 53

Social interaction

Front 54

Herman et al. (1984) trained a bottle-nosed dolphin, Akeakamai, to behave in different
ways to different sequences of words. Which of the following list of types of word did Herman
et al. not train Akeakmai to respond to?

Back 54

Abstract nouns

Front 55

According to Chomsky (1972) humans possess an innate language acquisition device for
generating:

Back 55

Universal grammar

Front 56

The principal difference between communication among animals and human language is
that animals are unable to:

Back 56

Produce speech other than pushing out words

Front 57

To understand a transitive sentence such as "Alex likes Tim" an animal must be able to
appreciate the _______ between the subject and the object.

Back 57

Relationship

Front 58

Which of the following scientists has suggested that language is unique to humans?

Back 58

Macphail (1982)

Front 59

Upon being told that her baby had died, Washoe:

Back 59

Exhibited signs of depression

Front 60

Testing control for time

Back 60

keep the amount of stimuli subjects are counting the same

Front 61

Testing control for number

Back 61

keep the number of seconds of time the same

Front 62

Exeriment: Conditional time/number discrimination with flashing colored keys:

Back 62

• if Green, then peck left for 2 flashes, right for 8 flashes, regardless of duration
• if Red, then peck left for 2 sec, right for 8 sec, regardless of number of flashes
• Test with 2-8 pulses over 4 sec (counting), or 4 pulses lasting 2-8 sec (timing)

Front 63

Foraging as an “optimal” behavior

Back 63

Assumption: behavior is selected to maximize (i.e. optimize) fitness
Operational currency: some measurable correlate to fitness
(e.g. energy expenditure)
Characterization of conditions: general constraints of foraging behavior
Goal: Optimal foraging
• minimize energy expense during foraging
• maximize energy gain from foraging

Front 64

Schedules of reinforcement

Back 64

rules that defines which occurrences of the
instrumental response are reinforced; primary determinants of behavior

Front 65

Ratio Schedule:

Back 65

The number of responses determines reinforcement

Front 66

Interval Schedule:

Back 66

The timing of the response (since the last reinforcer)
determines reinforcement

Front 67

Fixed ratio (FR):

Back 67

required number of responses is constant

Front 68

Variable ratio (VR):

Back 68

required number of responses varies between reinforcer deliveries

Front 69

Interval Schedules

Back 69

The passage of time determines the availability of reinforcement; the
number of responses made during the interval does not matter.

Front 70

Fixed Interval (FI):

Back 70

required interval is constant

Front 71

Variable Interval (VI):

Back 71

required interval varies between reinforcer deliveries

Front 72

What type of schedule produces lower rates of responding?

Back 72

Interval schedules

Front 73

patches

Back 73

resources separated by empty (resource poor) space occur in...

Front 74

Fluctuating patches

Back 74

Sampling behavior tracks changes in the environment (patch abundance). When the fluctuating patch is good, pigeons tend to choose it until it goes bad again. When the fluctuating patch is bad, pigeons tend to choose the stable patch more often

Front 75

Foraging models

Back 75

experience & memory

Front 76

Sampling frequency is inversely proportional to reinforcement probability in the __________ patch

Back 76

constant

Front 77

do animals choose the option the has the
highest probability of payoff at a given point in time

Back 77

no

Front 78

Scalar expectancy theory (SET):

Back 78

choice between reward probabilities is a
choice between delays to to food. Different delays (intervals) are
remembered, and the animal samples from the distribution of remembered
delays.

Front 79

Ideal free distribution:

Back 79

The distribution in which each individual can maximize its
intake under ideal conditions (perfect information, equal competitiveness); a perfect
“match”t

Front 80

Individual learning

Back 80

The proportion of individuals at a patch quickly comes to ma

Note: the distribution of ducks stabilizes before individuals
have a chance to visit more than one patchtch the prey density often

Front 81

What happens when patches deplete?

Back 81

Successive prey items take longer and longer to find

Front 82

Marginal value theorem (MVT)

Back 82

Forager should stay at the patch until the rate
of energy intake falls below the average in the habitat. After this point, it could do
better elsewhere.utmb=13979232

Front 83

MVT implies

Back 83

animals track rate of intake and overall quality of environment

Front 84

Pecking rates peak at

Back 84

the value of the inter-prey interval (and scale with magnitude) as for peak procedure

Front 85

Weber’s law

Back 85

the accuracy of the judgment is proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus

Front 86

Prey selection

Back 86

When times are good (lots high E/H items): be choosy
When times are bad: take what you can get.

Front 87

Optimal decision making may require information about...

Back 87

the whole environment drawn from samples and
memory.

Front 88

Ideal (optimal) behavior is always constrained by the _________ and ________ of the organism.

Back 88

psychology, biology

Front 89

what is social learning

Back 89

Animals live in groups and can benefit from watching other animals behave.

Can shape animal behavior and teach observer about ideal ways to interact with environment.

Front 90

McQuoid & Galef (1992)

Back 90

trained a Fowl to prefer a specific bowl of food. Observers birds watched while detained in an enclosure. Once released observers showed preference for the same bowl.

Experiment shows stimulus enhancement.

Front 91

Galef (1988)

Back 91

Rat 1 ate novel food, then was placed into a cage with Rat 2 for 30mins. Rat 2 preferred food consumed by Rat 1.

Experiment meant to show, exposure to Rat 1 allows observer to feel familiar with certain flavor, thus preferring it to novel flavor

Front 92

Galef and Stein

Back 92

• Observer rat inside cup, demonstrator in wire
• Observer smells demonstrator, smells food
• Either in stomach or on face works better than cotton
ball

Result:
 Observer prefers food smelled on demonstrator
 When dusted on backside, only slight preference
 On face or through stomach = larger preference
 If cotton ball dusted with food, no preference
 Suggests demonstrator does not have to be
conscious for social learning to happen

Front 93

Mate Selection

Back 93

 Female guppies observed two males; one alone
and other with female companion
 When given a choice, she preferred one with
companion
 However, if male had same choice, observer will
choose isolated female

Front 94

Fear of predators

Back 94

 When a wild adult monkey sees a snake, it has a
strong and visible reaction
 Laboratory reared monkey will have none of these
reactions

Front 95

Mineka and Cook (1988)

Back 95

Laboratory reared monkey seeing a wild monkey react to a snake will cause it to react the same way when in presence of a snake

Front 96

Mimicry:

Back 96

copying response of demonstrator when
no resulting reward
(type of copying)

Front 97

Mineka and Cook (1988) hypothesize that this
acquired fear is Pavlovian condition

Back 97

 Snake = CS
 Model’s fear response = US
 Fear by observer = CR
= observational conditioning

Front 98

Imitation:

Back 98

Copying response of demonstrator when it leads to reward (type of copying)

Front 99

Moore (1992, 1996):

Back 99

African Grey Parrots able to
mimic a human’s nod


Parrot would say “nod” and nod it’s head when
alone in its cage (i.e. no reward)

Front 100

Moore (1992):

Back 100

for primates, it helps them use
tools, but in parrots it is a social activity

Front 101

What purpose does it
serve for animals?

Back 101

For birds, mimicry is important for communication.
(birds learn songs from their parents by mimicking)

Front 102

Imitation

Back 102

beneficial to animals wishing to solve a problem by observing animal who was previously successful

Front 103

Huang, Koski, & DeQuardo (1983)

Back 103

experiment with rats
in chamber with transparent partition.

Results: Experimental group able to watch rat in other half press lever for food

Front 104

"Do as I do" Test
Custance, Whiten, Bard (1995)

Back 104

 trained 2 chimps
to respond to command “do this” when seeing
trainers perform an action
 Trained with a limited set of actions until command
was learned
 When learned, chimps would correctly respond to
the command for new actions

Front 105

Bidirectional Control
Heyes and Dawson (1990)

Back 105

Demonstrator rat in left
compartment of chamber,
observer in right

Demonstrator trained to push
a pole certain direction for
food

After watching, observers
placed in L compartment,
pushed pole in same way

Front 106

Two Action Control
Akins and Zentall (1996)

Back 106

Demonstrator Quail trained
to peck or step on treadle

Observer showed preference
for same response

If Stimulus enhancement or
observational conditioning
were occurring (not imitation), method of interacting with treadle would not matter

Imitation explains that specific response type would matter and be copied

Front 107

Mirror Neurons

Back 107

One possible explanation for why imitation occurs

found in monkeys

 Neurons fire when one: performs an action, or
watches another person perform action
 Neuronally, others performing actions causes
same response as oneself performing action

Front 108

Theory of mind

Back 108

The attribution of mental states to others. Do animals possess a theory of mind? (Premack &
Woodruff, 1978)

Front 109

Theory of mind - (Deception)
Woodruff & Premack (1979)

Back 109

- Chimps observed a lab assistant hide food under 1 of 2 pots. Chimp could not reach food –
had to direct a trainer to food:
- Trainer 1 - cooperative, gave food to chimp. Chimp would direct this trainer to correct pot
- Trainer 2 - competitive, eat food if directed to it. Chimp would direct this trainer to incorrect
pot
- Consistent with the idea that chimps have a theory of mind
But, can also be explained by conventional principles of discrimination learning (Mitchell &
Anderson, 1997)

Front 110

Theory of mind - (Deception: naturalistic studies)
Byrne & Whiten (1985, 1987)

Back 110

- Observed amongst a troop of baboons a strong adolescent, Melton, antagonize a
youngster
- Youngster screamed – remainder of troop moved towards Melton
- Melton engaged in behavior typically shown when a predator approaches (there
was no predator)
- Byrne & Whiten concluded that Melton was deceiving his troop to avoid punishment
Difficult to evaluate the claim:
(1) Perhaps Melton saw something that looked like a predator
(2) Perhaps this behavior (by chance) has prevented punishment in the past
(3) Do not know the prior experiences of the animals

Front 111

Theory of mind - (Knowledge attribution)
Povinelli, Nelson & Boysen (1990)

Back 111

- Chimpanzees had to choose 1 of 4 cups
- Food was hidden under cup 1
- Trainer 1: “The knower” was seen to be in room when food was hidden, pointed at cup 1
- Trainer 2: “The guesser” was seen to be out of room when food was hidden, pointed at cup 2
- Eventually, chimps came to chose cup 1.
- Did they know what the trainers knew?
Not necessarily, the problem can be conceived as a simple discrimination

Front 112

Theory of mind - (Self-recognition)
Povinelli et al. (1997)

Back 112

- Regions of chimpanzees’ faces marked with a dye
- Chimps touched these regions more than control regions, but only when in front of a mirror
- Not necessarily self-recognition, perhaps information about one’s own body

Front 113

Theory of mind - (Self-recognition)
All directed responses towards
their own body by using a mirror

Back 113

evidence of:
dolphins (Reiss & Marino, 2001)
elephants (Plotnik et al., 2006)
pigeons (Epstein et al., 1981)

Front 114

Theory of mind - (Self-recognition)
Gallup (1970, 1975, 1983):

Back 114

Animal needs to be self-aware – not universally accepted however!

Front 115

Theory of mind - (Self-recognition)
Heyes (1994b, 1998)

Back 115

Depends upon body concept.

According to Povinelli (2000), this evolved as a consequence of chimps needing to swing through trees.

Difficult to apply to the
results of Plotnik et al.

Front 116

Honey-bee communication
Von Frisch (1950)

Back 116

Upon returning to the hive, a worker bee will dance on the vertical surface of a comb if she has collected food

Front 117

Honey-bee communication
(round dance)

Back 117

food is between 50 to 100 meters away

Front 118

Honey-bee communication
(waggle dance)

Back 118

If food is more than 100 meters away

Front 119

Direction of waggle run = constant angle to vertical. This angle corresponds to the
angle (at the hive) between...

Back 119

(a) the direction of food and (b) the sun

Front 120

Bee dances
(Gould)

Back 120

• Painted ocelli of foragers
• They give dance relative to vertical in lighted hive
• Dance is interpreted relative to the light

Result:
Attendant bees (with unpainted ocelli) arrive at the wrong feeder

Front 121

Ethological model of communication:

Back 121

use of a ‘signal’ to influence the behavior of another individual

Front 122

Minimal definition:

Back 122

use of a ‘signal’ to influence the behavior of another
individual, usually of the same species

Front 123

Signal:

Back 123

The composite set of stimuli that can be voluntarily displayed to influence
behavior

Front 124

Cue:

Back 124

Stimuli that influence behavior but which are involuntarily or necessarily displayed

Front 125

Principle of antithesis:

Back 125

signals with opposing meanings tend to be opposite in form

Front 126

Cognitive model of communication:

Back 126

use of a ‘signal’ to influence the understanding of another individual.

• Uses higher-order intentionality
• Referential, i.e. not exclusively about internal states

Front 127

Song birds
Calls:

Back 127

Brief & monosyllabic, indicative of emotional states.
Little change from generation to generation, probably genetically determined

Front 128

Song birds
Birdsong:

Back 128

More complex, involving sequences of syllables and notes. Learning important

Front 129

Song birds
Marler (1970)

Back 129

- Studied variations in the song of the white-crowned sparrow
- Isolated birds of different ages for various intervals
- Development of bird song depends upon exposure to song when between 10 and 50 days old

Front 130

Song birds
Baptista & Petrinovich (1984, 1986)

Back 130

- Sparrows can still learn if older than 50 days
- Can learn the song of a different species: strawberry finch

Front 131

Song birds
Petrinovich (1988)

Back 131

- Sparrows can learn any song they attend to
- Better at learning from a live tutor as the constant variation maintains attention to the
song

Front 132

Elements of communication
Minimal definition:

Back 132

use of a ‘signal’ to influence the behavior of another
individual, usually of the same species

Front 133

Criteria for functional
reference

Back 133

1. Appropriate stimulus elicits
the appropriate call
2. Each alarm call by itself elicits
appropriate behavior in
receivers

Front 134

Limited vs unbounded signal sets:

Back 134

Most animals communicate about
a limited range of items (food, sex, predators, etc) using a fixed and usually small set signals.

Front 135

Intentionality:

Back 135

Humans generally use language with the intent of
informing (e.g. clarification), by suiting our communication to the
audience and modifying it based on whether or not it is having its
intended effects. There is no solid evidence that other animals do this.

Front 136

Reference and situational freedom:

Back 136

Animal communication often
reflects internal states. Other signals are referential, i.e.they are reliably
given in the presence of an object and not under other conditions (bees
chickens, monkeys). Humans can discuss events or items that have
occurred in the past or may occur in the future. This is called situational
freedom or displacement.

Front 137

Functional Reference

Back 137

Alarm calls in chickens (one for aerial predators, one for ground predators)

Different calls elicit different behaviors

• Subjects make appropriate calls for each predator
• Calls have reliable effects on audience birds.
• Roosters call more when they can see a hen nearby.

Front 138

Development of communication
(Vervet monkeys)
Cheyney & Seyfarth (1988):

Back 138

- Played a tape of an eagle alarm call whenever an infant was alone
- At first, infant was startled, and searched for its mother
- Later, infant watched responses of its mother, and then copied them

Different alarm calls made by vervet monkeys to predators

predator > signal > troop response:
1) eagle>chuckle>look up, or flee into a bush
2) leopard>loud bark>flee into a tree
3) python>high pitched chuttering>look around and mob the snake

Front 139

Development of communication
(Communication and intention)
Hostetter, Cantero & Hopkins (2001):

Back 139

- Trainers held out a banana to chimps that was just out of reach
- If trainer facing chimp: chimp held out its hand
- If trainer had back to chimp: chimp vocalized
- A consequence of trial and error learning?

Front 140

Arbitrariness of units

Back 140

- The units of communication (e.g. words) must be arbitrarily related to the event they
represent
- Displays of aggression or submission in dogs do not count. Different alarm calls by vervet
monkeys do count

Front 141

Semanticity

Back 141

- The units of communication must have a meaning, or evoke a representation of an
event
- Alarm calls of the vervet monkey fulfil this criterion

Front 142

Displacement

Back 142

The units of communication must be able to relate to an object (or event) that is spatially or temporally remote. ance of the honey-bee fulfils this criterion

Front 143

Productivity

Back 143

A large number of meaningful utterances can be created from a limited vocabulary

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what are the four criteria that communication must meet for it to be considered a language

Back 144

1)Arbitrariness of units
2)Semanticity
3)Displacement
4)Productivity

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Language and cooperation
Wood (1973)

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- Two dolphins situated in adjacent pools (arranged so that they could not see each other)

- Steady and flashing lights presented to female dolphin

During steady light: male dolphin had to press panel A for both dolphins to be fed
During flashing light: male dolphin had to press panel B for both dolphins to be fed

- Male dolphin mastered this discrimination. Success was accompanied by female dolphin making different sounds during the different lights

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Language and cooperation
Boakes & Gaertner (1977)

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in response to Wood (1973)
results:
- can be explained in terms of discrimination learning
- Random sounds made by the female during the lights could be accompanied by a
chance correct response by the male
- This would serve to reward the female for making that sound during that light
- And reward the male for making a particular response during a particular sound

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Training to speak
- Furness (1916):

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Spent many hours attempting to teach an orang-utan to speak English. Orang-utan only managed: “Papa”, “cup” and “th”

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Training to speak
- Hayes (1952, 1961):

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Raised a chimp, Vicki, as if it were a child Chimp only managed “Mama”, “Papa”, “cup” and “up”

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Training to speak
- Duchin (1990):

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- These limited successes are not a surprise
- Chimp is constrained by its inability to move its tongue to make [a], [i] and [u] sounds

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Training methods
(Plastic tokens)
- Premack (1971, 1976)

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- Created an artificial language in which plastic objects represented words
- Chimp called Sarah learned about 130 words
- Sarah praised for putting objects in correct order

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Training methods
(American Sign Language)
Gardner & Gardner (1969)

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- Trained a chimp, Washoe, to communicate with her hands
- Successfully learned about 132 different words:

- Another strategy for teaching a chimp a language was to to place an infant in the care of Washoe.
- The infant died and the trainer signed “Baby gone, baby finished”.

“…dropped her arms to her lap and she broke eye contact and slowly moved
away to a corner of the cage. She was demonstrating all the clinical signs of
depression. She continued for the next several days to isolate herself from any
interactions with the humans and her signing dropped off to almost nothing.
Her eyes appeared to be vacant or distant”

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Training methods
(Lexigrams)
Rumbaugh (1977)

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- Symbols (lexigrams) displayed on a keyboard that was connected to a computer
- Pressing a key projected the symbol onto a screen. Sentences created by pressing keys in
a sequence
- Sentence had to follow grammatical rules
- Lana (a common chimpanzee) learned to press lexigrams for “Please machine give juice”

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Training methods
(Lexigrams)
Rumbaugh & Savage- Rumbaugh (1994)

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- Tried to teach a bonobo chimp, Matata, to use lexigrams
- Matata’s adopted son, Kanzi, observed this training and spontaneously began using lexigrams

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Training methods
Spoken English
Savage-Rumbaugh (1994)

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- Kanzi given intensive training with lexigrams which were now associated with human
speech
- Could respond to commands such as “Get object X from location Y” (even if X was right in
front of him)
- Concluded that Kanzi had comprehension skills of a 2-year-old child
- Early onset of training seems to be important
- But, bonobo had a better vocabulary than the common chimpanzee

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Assessment of language training with apes
- (Discreteness and displacement)
Savage-Rumbaugh et al. (1983):

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Tested 2 chimps, Austin and Sherman, who were
trained with methods used by Rumbaugh (1977), i.e. discreteness.
Both could request food that was currently out of sight, some distance away: spatial and
temporal displacement

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Assessment of language training with apes
- (Semanticity)
Savage-Rumbaugh et al. (1988):

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- Austin and Sherman shown a lexigram that represented an object
- Correctly retrieved this object from a box of many objects
- “Meaning” (and hence semantics) of lexigram appreciated
- But not always the case. A chimp called Nim capable of signing “apple” and “banana” but could not respond correctly when given both fruit and asked by the trainer to hand over the apple (Savage-Rumbaugh, 1984)

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Assessment of language training with apes
- (Sentence comprehension)
Savage Rumbaugh et al. (1993):

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Showed that Kanzi could respond appropriately to
the following instructions:
“Pour the lemonade in the Coke” vs “Pour the Coke in the lemonade”

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Assessment of language training with apes
(Sentence production)

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Fouts (1975): Reported that a trainer placed a doll in Washoe’s cup. Washoe produced the novel sentence “baby in my cup”

But, Terrace (1979) discovered that the trainer pointed first to the doll and then the cup prior to asking Washoe to sign – Do not have to assume a knowledge of grammar

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Requirements for learning a language
(Language acquisition device)
- Chomsky (1972):

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Humans posses a language acquisition device for generating universal
grammar

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Requirements for learning a language
(Language acquisition device)
- Chomsky (1972):

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Language is uniquely human
- But, little known about properties of a “language acquisition device” or if it exists

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Requirements for learning a language
(Motivation)
- Gardner & Gardner (1974):

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Washoe would sign “quiet” to herself when moving to a
forbidden part of the yard

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Requirements for learning a language
(Sentence production)

Back 162

(a) Need to be able to order of words
- Monkeys can appreciate serial order
(b) Need to be able to use words to represent a category
- Many demonstrations of categorization in pigeons

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Requirements for learning a language
(The representation of knowledge)
Premack (1983):

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Language training will only be successful if the animal possesses an
abstract code to represent relationships
- Overall, evidence that animals can encode relations is poor

Front 164

Premack (1976) describes an experiment in which Sarah was trained that chocolate was
brown, without being shown chocolate. Upon being given four colored disks, and commanded to take brown, Sarah:

Back 164

Chose the correct disk