Conjunctive Rule Comprehension in a Bottlenosed Dolphin
Christopher G. Prince
University of Hawaii, Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lboratory, 1129
Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, HI, USA, 96814
-
- (C) 1993 University of Hawaii
A bottlenosed dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, comprehended connectives
and word order in an artificial language. The “conjunction”
language sequence, OBJECT1 + AND + OBJECT2 + ACTION, required
a response joining the action to both objects. The “conjunctive-erase”,
OBJECT1 + ERASE + OBJECT 2 + ACTION, with “ERASE” glosses
as “NO”, required a response joining only OBJECT 2 to
the action. Training methods were developed, and the dolphin’s
performance on an earlier studied language sequence, the relational:
OBJECT1 + OBJECT2 + RELATIONAL-TERM, was compared to her performance
on the new connective-based sequences. Transfer tests established
the dolphin’s competence to categorically discriminate between
the semantics of the two connectives, ability to encode objects
and actions, and the use of word-order in this context. Theoretical
implications were presented, phrased in terms of “rules”
and “relationships”, regarding the acquired mental representations.
Rules are unidirectional, procedural conceptual structures; relationships
represent bi-directional. declarative knowledge. Of primary interest
were the representations connecting sign to referent.
Prince, C. G. (1993). Conjunctive Rule Comprehension in a Bottlenosed
Dolphin. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Hawaii, Honolulu.
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