Title: Discourse on Method [Ren
1Discourse on Method René Descartes, 1637
For it is a very remarkable thing that there are
no menso dull and stupid that they cannot put
words togetherto convey their thoughtsthere is
noanimalthat 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 canOn the other handmen born deaf and
dumb, lacking organs (for) speaking usually
inventsigns 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 equalof one of the
most stupid children if their soul were not of a
wholly different nature from ours.
2Sarah
Premack (1976)
3Lana pushing Lexigrams (Rumbaugh, 1976)
4Symbols Used by Lana Sarah
5 Symbols Learned By Sarah
(Premack, 1976)
6(No Transcript)
7(No Transcript)
8COLOR NAMES
RED ? APPLEYELLOW ? BANANAReplace ? with
color ofRED ? BANANA YELLOW ? APPLEReplace
? with not color of
9- Skinner (1957) Verbal Behavior.
- Language is learned and can be explained by
principles of reinforcement theory. - Chomsky (1959) A review of Skinners Verbal
Behavior. - Language is innate.
10(No Transcript)
11Sentences Attributed To Chimpanzees
Mary give Sarah banana. (Sarah)Please
machine give apple. (Lana)
12Pigeon Pecking a 4-item Sequence
13American Sign Language
14NIM - 4 months
15NIM -- 8 months
16NIM drawing
17NIM washing dishes
18Nim looking at a magazine
19Teaching Signs By Imitation Molding
20NIM SIGNING drink
21(No Transcript)
22Nim signing tickle
23NIM SIGNING Apple
24Nim signing apple!!!
25Nim Signing teeth
26Nim signing nose
27NIM SIGNING Red
28Nim signing red
29Nim signing hat
30Nim signing Nim
31Nim signing hug
32Nim signing nose
33TEACHER Who? NIM NIM
34NIM SIGNING, Me hug cat
35 36NIM SIGNING, Me hat or Hat me
NIM SIGNING,Hug Nim or Nim hug
37 38 Freq.play me 375me Nim 328tickle me 316eat
Nim 302more eat 287me eat 237 Nim
eat 209finish hug 187drink Nim 143more
tickle 136sorry hug 123
Nims Most Frequent Two-Sign Combinations
Freq. tickle Nim 107hug Nim 106 more
drink 99eat drink 98banana me 97Nim
me 89sweet Nim 85me play 81gum eat 79tea
drink 77grape eat 74hug me 74banana Nim 73
39 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
Nims Most Frequent 3-sign Expressions
Freq. me more eat 19 more 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
40 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
Nims Most Frequent 4-sign Expressions
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
41Nims Longest Utterance
Give
Orange
Me
Give
Eat
Orange
Me
Eat
Orange
Me
You.
Give
Me
Eat
Orange
Give
42TEACHER Who? NIM NIM
43NIM SIGNING, Me hug cat
44MLU of Children
45Set-up for Sherman Austin
46Symbolic Communication Between Sherman Austin
- Chimps are housed in adjacent rooms separated by
a covered window.
- 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.
47Symbolic Communication Between Sherman Austin
(contd)
- Chimp designated as the requester ( R ) observes
experimenter place food in a particular location.
Food is retrievable only by using the
appropriate tool.
- Window is uncovered.
- R requests relevant tools from provider (P) by
using appropriate lexigram. Display in Ps 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.
48 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.