(Requirement: 1000 words)
Background: Monkeys control food calls
1. A body of evidence shows that food calls produced by monkeys are not automatic responses to the food, but controllable behaviors. On this topic, briefly describe (in about 100 words) how rhesus macaques in Hauser and Marler’s (1993) study do not make food calls all the time.
2. Humans use speech intentionally. What do we mean by this? Explain this concept briefly.
3. Intentional communication requires Theory of Mind (ToM). Explain this concept with a brief example.
4. For any animals to have ToM, the animals need to have sense of self. What is sense of self?
5. How can ToM not be possessed without sense of self? (You can answer this question in a couple of sentences.)
6. What is the basic idea of a mirror test?(Summarize the article, p. 319)
7. How do chimpanzees behave in this test?
8. From the mirror test we cannot say for sure that chimpanzees have the self–recognition ability? How so?
9. What is the basic idea of the mark test? (Summarize the article, p. 319–320)
10. Why it is better than mark test?
11. According to the course reading, do chimpanzees and other great apes have sense of self? What about Old World monkeys?
12. Briefly describe the study on p. 317 of the Theory of Mind article. (The similar study is also discussed in the Theory of Mind video: 13.Explain the two different interpretations/explanations of the chimpanzee’s behavior.
14.Old World monkeys cannot have complex cognition such as Theory of Mind. How so? Explain.
15.Without theory of mind, how could Old World Monkeys behave as if they are purposefully using food calls? Explain the mechanism. Relate this explanation to your response to Q14 above.
16.At present moment, we don’t know for sure if nonhuman primates use their vocal signals intentionally and purposefully as humans do. Can you suggest a different way to study primates’ social intelligence?
An explanatory synthesis writing
0.General instruction
One of the central questions in primate research is whether non–human primates can use vocal signals intentionally as humans do. In this expository essay, you will discuss both current consensus and debate on this question. Specifically, you will (1)explain what intentional communication means and what mental abilities animals have to possess to use vocal signals intentionally; (2) describe how sense of self and theory of mind in primates can be tested and how primates behave in such tests; and (3) discuss whether old world monkeys and chimpanzees can control their calls intentionally or not. Use only course materials as sources of information. To earn full credit, your paper should include all of the components listed in Section 1 (Organization).All other instructions such as the length requirement(1000–1200 words), citation style, etc. are the same as Essay #1.
1.Organization
1.1 Intro (about 200 words)
• Introduction of general topic (communication in nonhuman primates)
• An evidence for controllability of food calls in old world monkeys(Worksheet Q1)
• Research question (Is it intentional? Can we tell?
• Purpose and organization of the paper. Be sure to mention that the rest of the paper is based on Animal Learning and Cognition by John Pearce (2008).
1.2 Body 1: Key concepts: Intentional communication and prerequisites
• Worksheet Q2–5.
1.3Body2: Sense of Self study
• Mirror test: Worksheet Q6–8
• Mark test: Worksheet Q9–11
1.4 Body 3: Theory of Mind study
• Theory of Mind test: Worksheet Q12–13
1.5 Discussion and Conclusion
• Discussion on monkeys’ cognition: WorksheetQ14 (Connect Intro to Discussion)
• Discussion on control mechanism of monkey food calls: Worksheet Q15
• Suggestion for a future study (Q16) and a concluding remark
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