Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each observation by whether it supports a RICH interpretation of ape language studies or a SCEPTICAL one.
Groups: Supports a rich reading · Supports a sceptical reading
- Many reported combinations were prompted by the experimenter
- Kanzi responded correctly to novel spoken instructions
- Vocabularies reached hundreds of symbols
- Mean utterance length did not grow as a child's does
Hints
- One column is about what the animals produced spontaneously; the other about what the record shows on re-analysis.
- Terrace's re-analysis of his own project supplies most of the sceptical column.
Show the answer
Supports a rich reading: Kanzi responded correctly to novel spoken instructions, Vocabularies reached hundreds of symbols
Supports a sceptical reading: Mean utterance length did not grow as a child's does, Many reported combinations were prompted by the experimenter
Why
Both columns are real, which is why the honest summary keeps both halves: symbols are clearly acquired and used intentionally, and hierarchical recursive syntax has not been demonstrated. Terrace's willingness to re-analyse his own data against his own hypothesis is the methodological lesson of the episode.
Practise Animal Communication
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