Okay, well maybe "talking" is a bit misleading, but Washoe, a chimpanzee was the first non-human to learn American Sign Language, and she died of natural causes earlier this week. Many of you may be thinking "wait a second, what about Koko?" Koko was a few years younger than Washoe, who was taken in by scientists in 1966. The scientists who studied Washoe had a very specific method by which a sign was entered into her vocabulary, but this (of course) is still disputed among scientists. Most notably by MIT linguist Noam Chomsky. The main argument of scientists that refute language use by non-humans is that they simply learn to use certain motions and/or noises to receive a reward, and that this is not a true acquisition of language. I have a hard time subscribing to that theory considering that the scientists at the Washoe Project attempted to make her learning environment as similar to a deaf child learning from its parents as possible. Also, Isn't observation the most vital portion of learning language? If a child were left, completely alone, with no contact at all, it wouldn't develop language. Not even Chomsky could argue that. So why are some scientists so quick to say that Washoe and Koko didn't know their 250 and 1,000 words respectively? Is it just too outlandish? Too revolutionary? Well pushawe to that says I. And much respect to the scientists who do this great work with primates, including those that give gorillas kittens. Article Here.
Friday, November 2, 2007
42 year old Talking Chimp Dies
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
In all seriousness, the argument that operant conditioning does not lead to language acquisition is bunk in my book. Why do babies learn language in the first place? Because those bitches are hungry, they moms don't let them hang off the tits no more, and simply screaming no longer produces the same result. The growing child must adapt in order to survive, and as Worm stated, uses observation to acqurie new skills, vis a vis language. This is elementary. I could be an anthropologist right now.
word son. imho, All adaptation of a "civilized" or "societal" manner is based in some way off of a system of observation and reward. For instance, when you watch people interacting as a child, you note certain behaviors and responses of other individuals to those behaviors. You then adapt your behavior to either align with those behaviors or defect from them. Your reward is either positive or negative attention from others as a result, which, in essesnce, is the same as positive or negative reinforcement.
i completely agree, but i must caution you as an academic from using "imho" in your works. your right to your own imho is assured as a scientist, and asserting it simply makes you thuggish. own your imho. don't flaunt it.
Post a Comment