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 NAMES RED?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)

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 me375 me Nim328 tickle me316 eat Nim302 more eat287 me eat237 Nim eat209 finish hug187 drink Nim143 more tickle136 sorry hug123 Freq. tickle Nim107 hug Nim106 more drink99 eat drink98 banana me97 Nim me89 sweet Nim85 me play81 gum eat79 tea drink77 grape eat74 hug me74 banana Nim73 Nim’s Most Frequent Two-Sign Combinations

Freq. play me Nim81 eat me Nim48 eat Nim eat46 tickle me Nim44 grape eat Nim37 banana Nim eat33 Nim me eat27 banana eat Nim26 eat me eat22 me Nim eat21 hug me Nim20 yogurt eat Nim20 Freq. me more eat19 more eat Nim19 finish hugm Nim18 banana me eat17 Nim eat Nim17 tickle me tickle17 apple me eat15 eat Nim me15 give me eat15 nut Nim nut15 drink me Nim14 hug Nim hug14 play me play14 sweet Nim sweet14 Nim’s Most Frequent 3-sign Expressions

Freq. eat drink eat drink15 eat Nim eat Nim7 banana Nim banana Nim5 drink Nim drink Nim5 banana eat me Nim4 banana me eat banana4 banana me Nim me4 grape eat Nim eat4 Nim eat Nim eat4 play me Nim play4 Freq. drink eat drink eat3 drink eat me Nim3 eat grape eat Nim3 eat me Nim drink3 grape eat me Nim3 me eat drink more3 me eat me eat3 me gum me gum3 me Nim eat me3 Nim me Nim me3 tickle me Nim play3 Nim’s Most Frequent 4-sign Expressions

Nim’s Longest Utterance: MeYou. GiveOrangeMeGive Eat Orange MeEatOrangeGive MeEatOrange

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.