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.”