Discourse on Method [René Descartes, 1637]

For it is a very remarkable thing that there are no men…so dull and stupid that they cannot put words together…to convey their thoughts…there is no…animal…that can do the same. And this is not because they lack the organs, for we see that magpies and parrots can pronounce words as well as we can…On the other hand…men born deaf and dumb, lacking organs (for) speaking… usually invent…signs by which they make themselves understood...Furthermore, we notice variations among animals of the same species, just as among men, and that some are easier to train than others. It is therefore unbelievable that a monkey or a parrot which was one of the best of its species should not be the equal…of one of the most stupid children… if their soul were not of a wholly different nature from ours.

Sarah

Premack (1976)

Lana pushing Lexigrams

(Rumbaugh, 1976)

Symbols Used by Lana & Sarah

Symbols Learned By Sarah (Premack, 1976)

COLOR NAMESRED ? APPLE

YELLOW ? BANANA

Replace ? with color of

RED ? BANANA

YELLOW ? APPLE

Replace ? with not color of

Skinner (1957) Verbal Behavior. • Language is learned and can be explained by principles of reinforcement theory.

Chomsky (1959) A review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior.

• Language is innate.

“Sentences” Attributed To Chimpanzees

“Mary give Sarah banana.” (Sarah)

“Please machine give apple.” (Lana)

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Pigeon Pecking a 4-item Sequence

American Sign Language

NIM - 4 months

NIM -- 8 months

NIM drawing

NIM washing dishes

Nim looking at a magazine

Teaching Signs By Imitation & Molding

NIM SIGNING drink

Nim signing tickle

NIM SIGNING Apple

Nim signing apple!!!

Nim Signing teeth

Nim signing nose

NIM SIGNING Red

Nim signing red

Nim signing hat

Nim signing Nim

Nim signing hug

Nim signing nose

TEACHER: Who?; NIM: NIM

NIM SIGNING, Me hug cat

Nim signing hug

NIM SIGNING, Me hat or Hat me

NIM SIGNING,Hug Nim or Nim hug

Nim signing:

tree

there

Freq.play me 375me Nim 328tickle me 316eat Nim 302more eat 287me eat 237 Nim eat 209finish hug 187drink Nim 143more tickle136sorry hug 123

Freq. tickle Nim 107hug Nim 106more drink 99eat drink 98banana me 97Nim me 89sweet Nim 85me play 81gum eat 79tea drink 77grape eat 74hug me 74banana Nim 73

Nim’s Most Frequent Two-Sign Combinations

Freq.play me Nim

81eat me Nim 48eat Nim eat 46tickle me Nim 44grape eat Nim 37banana Nim eat 33Nim me eat 27banana eat Nim 26eat me eat 22me Nim eat 21hug me Nim

20yogurt eat Nim 20

Freq.me more eat 19more eat Nim 19finish hugm Nim 18banana me eat 17Nim eat Nim 17tickle me tickle 17apple me eat 15eat Nim me 15give me eat 15nut Nim nut 15drink me Nim 14hug Nim hug 14play me play 14sweet Nim sweet 14

Nim’s Most Frequent 3-sign Expressions

Freq.eat drink eat drink

15eat Nim eat Nim 7banana Nim banana Nim

5drink Nim drink Nim 5banana eat me Nim

4banana me eat banana 4banana me Nim me

4grape eat Nim eat

4Nim eat Nim eat 4play me Nim play 4

Freq.drink eat drink eat 3drink eat me Nim 3eat grape eat Nim 3eat me Nim drink 3grape eat me Nim 3me eat drink more 3me eat me eat 3me gum me gum 3me Nim eat me 3Nim me Nim me 3tickle me Nim play 3

Nim’s Most Frequent 4-sign Expressions

Nim’s Longest Utterance:

Me You.

GiveOrangeMe Give

Give

EatOrange

Me Eat OrangeGiveMe Eat Orange

TEACHER: Who?; NIM: NIM

NIM SIGNING, Me hug cat

MLU of Children

Set-up for Sherman & Austin

Symbolic Communication Between Sherman & Austin

• Both chimps learn to use tools to obtain food (wrench, stick, sponge, key, straw, or money).

• One chimpanzee requests a tool using appropriate lexigram.

• Look at display panel to see which tool the other chimp selected.

• Give other chimp the tool he requested.

•Chimps are housed in adjacent rooms separated by a covered window.

Symbolic Communication Between

Sherman & Austin (cont’d)

• Window is uncovered.• R requests relevant tools from provider (P) by

using appropriate lexigram. Display in P’s room indicates which one.

• P selects tool and passes it to R through a pipe connecting the two rooms.

• If P passes the correct tool, R can obtain food.

•Chimp designated as the requester ( R ) observes experimenter place food in a particular location. Food is retrievable only by using the appropriate tool.

Jack and Jill Paradigm (Pigeons)

•Jack (left) asks Jill (right) for a color name by pressing the what color? key.•Jill looks through the recessed screen at the hidden color.•Jill selects the symbolic name for the color while Jack watches.•Jack depresses the thank you key. •Jill is rewarded with food if Jack selects the correct color. •Jack is rewarded, with food.