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To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2008.01.006 Byline: Heidi Lyn (a)(b), Becca Franks (c), E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh (b) Keywords: Moral precursors; Primates; Value judgments; Language-competent apes Abstract: Morality is a concept that is based on value judgments of 'right' or 'wrong' and 'good' and 'bad'. Three language-competent apes (two bonobos and a chimpanzee) are shown to use the symbols 'good' and 'bad' in appropriate contexts and to co-construct these values with the humans in their environment, indicating that the specific expression of value judgments is cultural. Their developmental use of these symbols parallels studies in children which suggest that conceptual simplicity and internal development may affect the development of moral precursors. These findings support recent research that has found moral precursors in several species of nonhuman primates. Author Affiliation: (a) Sea Mammal Research Unit, Gatty Marine Lab, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, United Kingdom (b) Great Ape Trust of Iowa, 4200 S.E. 44th Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50320, United States (c) Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States

Research, and comments, on the ability of children to learn new words is presented. In addition, the need for apes to learn words through visual contact is examined.

Using computer-mediated joystick manipulation, the ability of a common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) to select arrays of items equal to a given target number was examined. A random dot condition was included in which all sequence cues were eliminated as a means to reach the target numbers 1 to 4. The participant, Austin, had only the quantity of items already selected as a record of how high the count had progressed. Performance on the random dot trials was found to be significantly above chance and improvement over time was also statistically significant. Results of this experiment provide evidence that Austin behaved with a knowledge that the quantity of items selected was the objective of the task rather than adhering rigidly to any specific pattern of selection. The results indicate that Austin had the ability to discriminate the number of items needed to reach the target number and then select items individually to reach that target quantity., The debate over the numerical abilities of animals revolves as much around issues of definition as it does around competence (for a review see Boysen & Capaldi, 1993; Davis & [...]

An experiment conducted with young apes to study their language acquisition ability reveals that species and their environment have a significant influence on learning abilities. Two apes, a chimpanzee and a bonobo, exhibited language acquisition abilities when reared in an environment that stimulated learning. However, the bonobo was a better learner than the chimpanzee. Bonobos in other experiments also exhibited better learning abilities than their chimpanzee counterparts. The apes show greater learning abilities when exposed to a learning situation at an early age.

Bonobos and chimpanzees are Pan species which are most closely related to the human species. They provide vital clues to the development of human language competence. Although bonobos and chimpanzees cannot articulate speech, they can comprehend language. Language comprehension is manifested by vocalization, intentional movement and display behavior. Both Panbanisha and Panpanzee, the bonobo and chimpanzee used in the research, exhibited these behaviors.

Apes receive and use signals through observational learning, and their communicative linguistic environment enables interpretation of these signals. Bonobo and chimpanzee exposed to spoken language since infancy understood it well. Chimpanzees do not require special training for understanding the signals and they acquired these skills merely by observing and participating in silent communicative processes.

This paper summarizes a videotaped presentation (Rumbaugh, Savage-Rumbaugh, Hopkins, Washburn, & Runfeldt, 1987) of computerized training programs whereby an adult female chimpanzee, Lana (Pan troglodytes), learned to use a joystick to remove from a screen the number of boxes appropriate to the value of a randomly selected Arabic numeral 1, 2, or 3. Initial training provided a variety of cues, both numeric and otherwise, to support correct performance. Across software programs, all cues other than numeric ones were deleted. In the final test, Lana was correct on over 80% of trials in which there was no residual feedback of intratrial events and where only her memory of those events could provide the cue to indicate that she had removed boxes in accordance with the value of the target numbers and should terminate the trial. The tape is narrated and consist of video recording of Lana's performance on each software program.

Recent reports (Iwai, Yaginuma, & Mishkin, 1986; Yaginuma & Iwai, 1986) have supported the earlier conclusion by Meyer, Treichler, and Meyer (1965) and by Stollnitz (1965) that the efficiency of primate learning is compromised to the degree that there is spatial discontiguity between discriminanda and the locus of response. The research reported in this article calls for a reconsideration of this conclusion. Two rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) easily mastered precise control of a joystick to respond to a variety of computer-generated targets despite the fact that the joystick was located 9 to 18 cm from the video screen. We hold that stimulus-response contiguity is a significant parameter of learning only to the degree that the monkey visually attends to the directional movements of its hand in order to displace discriminanda as in the Wisconsin General Test Apparatus. If, instead, attention is focused on the effects of the hand's movement rather than on the hand itself, stimulus-response contiguity is no longer a primary parameter of learning. The implications of this work for mirror-guided studies are discussed.

Ape language research has been marked by constantly shifting demands made by those who feel that only human beings can acquire language. Kako (1999) continues in this tradition, but his paper marks a significant shift. For Kako concedes that Kanzi possesses rudimentary syntactic skills; but he questions whether Kanzi possesses morphosyntax. Rather than searching, yet again, for some linguistic element that Kanzi has not mastered, we feel it would be more productive, for reasons we explore, to focus now on what exactly Kanzi can do and how this came about.