Animal Language - Psych PDF

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Summary

This was a class activity that was due in our class. These are my answers and interpretation of the assignment....

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1. Did Alex understand English? Why or why not?

Alex was able to understand English but was not able to have a conversation like humans do. Dr. Pepperberg states that she stayed away from using the word “language” when describing Alex’s abilities because Alex was only able to understand simple words and the idea of language is much more complex than that. In order to train Alex, Pepperberg used graphemes to relate the things Alex was seeing to English words. Alex understood the words Pepperberg was using but only to an extent, similar to a toddler that has a small vocabulary but can still conceptualize the words that are being said.

2. Do prairie dogs have a language, or are they merely communicating? How can you tell?

Prairie dogs have a way of communicating that proves that they do indeed have their own language. We can see the reasoning behind this in Con Slobodchikoff’s research that identifies the different wavelengths and pitches of their calls in certain situations. Mainly, his research shows that the prairie dogs give off a different signal/call depending on the predator and each call can signal a different response. The research proves that some calls will make all prairie dogs sit on their hind legs compared to others that make them burrow themselves right away. Because of this research we can understand that these animals have developed their own way of communicating and a language of a sort that helps them stay safe.

3. Did Kanzi and Panbanisha understand English? Why or why not?

I believe that Kanzi and Panbanisha did understand English. In the video, the woman clearly states that all of the actions were caught on camera and were not tricks. In the TED talk, you can see that Kanzi reaches for the lighter in her pocket just after she had said it for the first time. Kanzi understood where the pocket was and what a lighter was without any help or direction. Also, in the interviews Kanzi was able to find the words on the touch screen after he heard it.

This means that these animals have a concept of English and know what the correct sounds are for each word.

4. What do you think prevents other species from learning language the way we do? Please give scientific (not religious!) reasons for your answer.

As humans, we are vocal learners. When we are children, we want to imitate the noises that our parents or other adults are making. This is similar in Zebras as they learn “songs” when they are younger but rarely progress further as humans do. The ultimate problem with animals not communicating the way that humans do is that they are not typically vocal learners. This is why cows moo and dogs bark is because their brains only allow them to imitate the calls that they are born with. There are certain animals that are vocal learners and we can see that they are more likely to be able to imitate human language to an extent. Parrots are vocal learners and also have a “region of the forebrain that makes direct connections with the voice muscles” (Erich Jarivs). This part of the brain is in parrots and humans and it allows us to be able to learn new sounds and process them. But animals that are not vocal learners lack this pathway thus making it difficult for them to produce new sounds....