animals and human language ANIMALS AND HUMAN LANGUAGE | Page 14

On the basis of his work with another chimpanzee called Nim , the psychologist Herbert Terrace argued that chimpanzees simply produce signs in response to the demands of people and tend to repeat signs those people use , yet they are treated ( by naive researchers ) as if they are taking part in a “ conversation .” As in many critical studies of animal learning , the chimpanzees ’ behavior is viewed as a type of conditioned response to cues provided ( often unwittingly ) by human trainers . Herbert ’ s conclusion was that chimpanzees are clever creatures who learn to produce a certain type of behavior ( signing or symbol selection ) in order to get rewards and are essentially performing sophisticated “ tricks .”

THE CONTROVERSY

On the basis of his work with another chimpanzee called Nim , the psychologist Herbert Terrace argued that chimpanzees simply produce signs in response to the demands of people and tend to repeat signs those people use , yet they are treated ( by naive researchers ) as if they are taking part in a “ conversation .” As in many critical studies of animal learning , the chimpanzees ’ behavior is viewed as a type of conditioned response to cues provided ( often unwittingly ) by human trainers . Herbert ’ s conclusion was that chimpanzees are clever creatures who learn to produce a certain type of behavior ( signing or symbol selection ) in order to get rewards and are essentially performing sophisticated “ tricks .”