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Talking Animals

Adel Rahimi
Adel Rahimi

This document summarizes research on animal communication abilities. It discusses operant conditioning experiments using animals like Clever Hans the horse. It describes sign language research with gorillas like Koko and chimpanzees like Washoe, Nim and Viki. While these animals learned some signs and gestures, the research concluded they did not truly use or understand language. The document also discusses the FOXP2 gene, which is important for human speech and language development but differs from chimpanzee genes. In the end, it determines that while animals have cognitive abilities, they cannot learn or use language in the same way as humans.

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On Talking Animals Adel Rahimi
Table of Contents 則 What is conditioning? 則 Clever Hans 則 Batyr the genius elephant 則 Animal Sign Language 則 Case of Washoe, Koko,Viki and Nim 則 Genetics 則 More Genetics 則 The end.
Operant Conditioning 則 When an animal learns (conditioned) and behaves (operates) in the environment 則 Skinner Box; A cage setup that an animal can live in and gets rewards if it makes particular kind of response1. 1 http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/learning/section2.rhtml
Clever Hans 則 A horse that claimed to be able to do arithmetic and other intellectual tasks1 則 Psychologist Pfungst discovered that the horse was paying attention to the hidden clues from the trainer2 1 http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/learning/sec tion2.rhtml 2 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33936/33936-h/33936- h.htm#CHAPTER_IV
Batyr 則 An elephant who claimed to be able to talk, use human speech1 則 "舒 仗仍仂仂亶" Bad Batyr rarely; 則 "亟亳" Go; 則 "亟亳 (仆舒) 亶" Go to hell obscene Russian phrase; said first and only time during a telecast shooting; 則 "舒-弍舒" short form of "babushka" grandmother; short children's sound "ba 1 Sieveking, Paul. "Conversing cows and eloquent elephants". fortunecity.com
Numerous other animals that claimed to be able to speak or use language in any shape or form but that wasnt true. Hoover (seal) Batyr (elephant) Kanzi (bonobo)
The Era of Animal Sign Language
Koko 則 Gorilla that learned modified version of American Sign Language AKA Gorilla Sign Language1 則 Learnt more than 1000 signs2 & 3 則 2000 words of spoken English 則 She didnt use grammar, syntax and her language was like those of child humans 則 It was raised that she was an example of Operant Conditioning or a case of Clever Hans 則 It was reported that koko used displacement, meta language and jokes 則 Invented the sign for ring => finger-bracelet 則 Had a kitten pet4 1 "Koko's Birthday Gallery Blog". koko.org. The Gorilla Foundation. Retrieved September 8, 2012. 2 Fischer, Steven R. (1999). A History of Language. Reaktion Books. pp. 2628. ISBN 1-86189-080-X. 3 Wise, Steven M. (2003). Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights. Basic Books. p. 216. ISBN 0-7382-0810-8. 4 McGraw, C. (1985, January 10). "Gorilla's Pets: Koko Mourns Kitten's Death". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
Koko and Smoky
Chimps are ideal candidates for this study But why chimps?
98.7% of the DNA of humans and chimps is identical1 Mary-Claire King (1973) Protein polymorphisms in chimpanzee and human evolution, Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
Talking Animals
Viki
Viki 則 Chimpanzee adopted by humans1 & 2 & 3 則 Learnt to talk by her lips being moved2 & 1 則 Learnt to say mamma and some other words 則 Died of meningitis at the age of 73 1 Catherine Hayes (1951), The Ape in Our House. New York: Harper 2 K.J. Hayes and C Hayes, C (1952). "Imitation in a home- raised chimpanzee". Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 45, 450-459. 3 K.J. Hayes and C.H. Nissen. (1971). "Higher mental functions of a home-raised chimpanzee". In Schrier, A.M. and Stollnitz, F. (eds). Behaviour of Non-human Primates, 4,50-115. New York, Academic Press.
Washoe
Washoe 則 Was raised in an environment as close as a humans1 則 Washoe learnt 350 Signs1 則 They stopped giving her rewards and tickle rewards2 則 She even taught her friends, 則 Moja, her friend, didnt know the word for thermos so she used METAL CUP DRINK 則 She showed signs of emotions 則 Quotes: 則 "You, Me out go". 'OK but first clothes' (Washoe puts on jacket.) 則 What That' "Shoe" 'Whose That Shoe' "Yours" 'What color' "Black".1 Johnson, Lawrence E. (1993). A morally deep world: an essay on moral significance and environmental ethics. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-521-44706-5. 2 Gardner, R. A. & Gardner, B. T. (1998). The structure of learning from sign stimuli to sign language. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Nim, Nim Chimpsky
Nim 則 His name was a pun on Noam Chomsky 則 Nim learnt 125 signs but he did not use proper grammar1 則 Terrace and colleagues finally concluded that Nim did not use any thoughts or ideas 則 Probably, it was nothing more than Clever Hans effect2 1 Terrace, Herbert; Petitto, L. A.; Sanders, R. J.; Bever, T. G. (November 23, 1979). "Can an ape create a sentence" (PDF). Science. 206 (4421): 891- 902. doi:10.1126/science.504995. PMID 504995. However objective analysis of our data, as well as those obtained by other studies, yielded no evidence of an ape's ability to use a grammar. 2 Radick, Gregory (2007). The Simian Tongue: The Long Debate about Animal Language. University of Chicago Press. p. 320.
Chantek
Chantek in Malay: Lovely died in 20171 則 He was raised like a human baby2 則 He had self-awareness (groomed himself in front of mirror) 則 He knew 150 ASL signs 則 He enjoyed doing arts like painting, making necklaces 1 "Chantek, the orangutan who used sign language, dies at 39". BBC News. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August2017. 2 H. Tuttle, Russell (7 February 2014). Apes and Human Evolution. Harvard University Press. p. 555. ISBN 978- 0674073166. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
Talking Animals
What happened? FOXP2
Talking Animals
FOXP2 則 Forkhead box protein P2 or FOXP2 is a protein that is encoded by FOXP2 gene. 則 It is required for human speech and language development 則 two amino acid substitutions distinguish the human FOXP2 protein from the ones found in chimpanzees 則 Evidence from genetically modified mice shows that change in FOXP2 can affect the neural function of brain
FOXP2 則 Transcription Factor: it controls the activity of other genes 則 FOXP2 is active before and after birth1 則 KE Family being affected results in impaired movement of mouth, lips and tongue 則 Human Ape: A documentary about KE family 1 https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/FOXP2
Talking Animals
Whats Next?
Conclusion 則 Animals cant learn what we know of language 則 Humans wont be able to learn language without FOXP2 則 Animals have a certain level of cognitive ability but not like humans

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Talking Animals

  • 2. Table of Contents 則 What is conditioning? 則 Clever Hans 則 Batyr the genius elephant 則 Animal Sign Language 則 Case of Washoe, Koko,Viki and Nim 則 Genetics 則 More Genetics 則 The end.
  • 3. Operant Conditioning 則 When an animal learns (conditioned) and behaves (operates) in the environment 則 Skinner Box; A cage setup that an animal can live in and gets rewards if it makes particular kind of response1. 1 http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/learning/section2.rhtml
  • 4. Clever Hans 則 A horse that claimed to be able to do arithmetic and other intellectual tasks1 則 Psychologist Pfungst discovered that the horse was paying attention to the hidden clues from the trainer2 1 http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/learning/sec tion2.rhtml 2 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/33936/33936-h/33936- h.htm#CHAPTER_IV
  • 5. Batyr 則 An elephant who claimed to be able to talk, use human speech1 則 "舒 仗仍仂仂亶" Bad Batyr rarely; 則 "亟亳" Go; 則 "亟亳 (仆舒) 亶" Go to hell obscene Russian phrase; said first and only time during a telecast shooting; 則 "舒-弍舒" short form of "babushka" grandmother; short children's sound "ba 1 Sieveking, Paul. "Conversing cows and eloquent elephants". fortunecity.com
  • 6. Numerous other animals that claimed to be able to speak or use language in any shape or form but that wasnt true. Hoover (seal) Batyr (elephant) Kanzi (bonobo)
  • 8. Koko 則 Gorilla that learned modified version of American Sign Language AKA Gorilla Sign Language1 則 Learnt more than 1000 signs2 & 3 則 2000 words of spoken English 則 She didnt use grammar, syntax and her language was like those of child humans 則 It was raised that she was an example of Operant Conditioning or a case of Clever Hans 則 It was reported that koko used displacement, meta language and jokes 則 Invented the sign for ring => finger-bracelet 則 Had a kitten pet4 1 "Koko's Birthday Gallery Blog". koko.org. The Gorilla Foundation. Retrieved September 8, 2012. 2 Fischer, Steven R. (1999). A History of Language. Reaktion Books. pp. 2628. ISBN 1-86189-080-X. 3 Wise, Steven M. (2003). Drawing the Line: Science and the Case for Animal Rights. Basic Books. p. 216. ISBN 0-7382-0810-8. 4 McGraw, C. (1985, January 10). "Gorilla's Pets: Koko Mourns Kitten's Death". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  • 11. 98.7% of the DNA of humans and chimps is identical1 Mary-Claire King (1973) Protein polymorphisms in chimpanzee and human evolution, Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
  • 13. Viki
  • 14. Viki 則 Chimpanzee adopted by humans1 & 2 & 3 則 Learnt to talk by her lips being moved2 & 1 則 Learnt to say mamma and some other words 則 Died of meningitis at the age of 73 1 Catherine Hayes (1951), The Ape in Our House. New York: Harper 2 K.J. Hayes and C Hayes, C (1952). "Imitation in a home- raised chimpanzee". Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 45, 450-459. 3 K.J. Hayes and C.H. Nissen. (1971). "Higher mental functions of a home-raised chimpanzee". In Schrier, A.M. and Stollnitz, F. (eds). Behaviour of Non-human Primates, 4,50-115. New York, Academic Press.
  • 16. Washoe 則 Was raised in an environment as close as a humans1 則 Washoe learnt 350 Signs1 則 They stopped giving her rewards and tickle rewards2 則 She even taught her friends, 則 Moja, her friend, didnt know the word for thermos so she used METAL CUP DRINK 則 She showed signs of emotions 則 Quotes: 則 "You, Me out go". 'OK but first clothes' (Washoe puts on jacket.) 則 What That' "Shoe" 'Whose That Shoe' "Yours" 'What color' "Black".1 Johnson, Lawrence E. (1993). A morally deep world: an essay on moral significance and environmental ethics. Cambridge University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-521-44706-5. 2 Gardner, R. A. & Gardner, B. T. (1998). The structure of learning from sign stimuli to sign language. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • 18. Nim 則 His name was a pun on Noam Chomsky 則 Nim learnt 125 signs but he did not use proper grammar1 則 Terrace and colleagues finally concluded that Nim did not use any thoughts or ideas 則 Probably, it was nothing more than Clever Hans effect2 1 Terrace, Herbert; Petitto, L. A.; Sanders, R. J.; Bever, T. G. (November 23, 1979). "Can an ape create a sentence" (PDF). Science. 206 (4421): 891- 902. doi:10.1126/science.504995. PMID 504995. However objective analysis of our data, as well as those obtained by other studies, yielded no evidence of an ape's ability to use a grammar. 2 Radick, Gregory (2007). The Simian Tongue: The Long Debate about Animal Language. University of Chicago Press. p. 320.
  • 20. Chantek in Malay: Lovely died in 20171 則 He was raised like a human baby2 則 He had self-awareness (groomed himself in front of mirror) 則 He knew 150 ASL signs 則 He enjoyed doing arts like painting, making necklaces 1 "Chantek, the orangutan who used sign language, dies at 39". BBC News. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August2017. 2 H. Tuttle, Russell (7 February 2014). Apes and Human Evolution. Harvard University Press. p. 555. ISBN 978- 0674073166. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  • 24. FOXP2 則 Forkhead box protein P2 or FOXP2 is a protein that is encoded by FOXP2 gene. 則 It is required for human speech and language development 則 two amino acid substitutions distinguish the human FOXP2 protein from the ones found in chimpanzees 則 Evidence from genetically modified mice shows that change in FOXP2 can affect the neural function of brain
  • 25. FOXP2 則 Transcription Factor: it controls the activity of other genes 則 FOXP2 is active before and after birth1 則 KE Family being affected results in impaired movement of mouth, lips and tongue 則 Human Ape: A documentary about KE family 1 https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/FOXP2
  • 28. Conclusion 則 Animals cant learn what we know of language 則 Humans wont be able to learn language without FOXP2 則 Animals have a certain level of cognitive ability but not like humans