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Pepperberg Parrot Study

Lecture notes on the Pepper Parrot Study
Course

Introduction To Psychology (PSY 2012)

155 Documents
Students shared 155 documents in this course
Academic year: 2020/2021
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Madison Oakes
University of North Florida
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Pepperberg Parrot Study Analysis

Relevant Background ● Primates ○ Due to their understanding of language--researchers have been able to teach language to them via sign language or pointing to symbols. ■ Premack ○ It has been seen that they have been able to use and form meaningful sentences. ● Other animals have also been able to understand the idea of conceptual categorization. ● Symbolic representation ● Birds--benefits the birds survival.

Purpose/Aim ● Aim--to see whether a parrot can use vocal labels to demonstrate a symbolic understanding of the concepts “same” and “different”.

Hypothesis(es) None

Type of Study (Methodology) ● Animal case study ○ 26 months ● Trained and tested over a couple of years. ● One subject ● Lab experiment

IV(s) & DV(s) ● Independent Variable--whether the object is familiar or novel. ● Dependent Variable--Whether the Parrot responds correctly to the question about what is same and different.

Participants/Sample ● African gray parrot ● Involved in prior research on communication and cognition for around 10 years. ● Free range during the day and caged at

night. ● Fed a suitable diet and given toys.

Sampling Technique

Training materials: ● Shape- triangle or square ● Color- red, green, blue ● Material- rawhide or wood

Training results: ● Color and shape labels- 4 months ● Matter- 9 months

● Alex could already name: ○ Colors ○ Shapes ○ Materials ● He could also answer: ○ “What color?” ● He could also combine responses to describe items. ○ Ex: “green wood”. ● They trained Alex so that he could categorize rather than describe. ○ Uses abstract thinking. ● Training sessions ○ Two to four times a week with each session lasting five minutes to an hour. ● Alex also took part in other studies during this time period. ● Sampling technique ○ Model/Rival--M/R approach. ○ Opportunity sample

Procedure Summary ● One human acts as the trainer of the second human by presenting the second with objects, then asking questions about the objects and offering reward or praise to desirable responses. ○ Second human/learner acts as a model for the parrot who is watching this interaction. ● The parrot is considered the rival for the trainers attention; if he offers the right vocalization when the question is asked, they receive the reward or praise rather than the human. ● During training ○ They were taught several possible schedules of reinforcement. ■ This was intended to create the closest possible association

study was valid by limiting researcher bias. ● A student selected the question order and materials who had no connection to Alex. ● The trainer who trained Alex on the same/ different task, had never done so before ● This also means that demand characteristics were limited. ● Quantitative data was collected which allows us to objectively analyze whether Alex could think abstractly.

Weaknesses of the Study ● Alex was a lab parrot. This makes generalization difficult because he is not representative of the general population of parrots. ● Alex suffered from boredom (which is why they switched up his tasks). This species is prone to self-injurious behavior when bored. ● Is it okay to have these species in labs (in captivity)?

Ecological Validity ● Low ○ Lab study--not true to real life/ natural environment.

Ethics of Study (Positive and/or Negative) ● Positive Ethics ○ Parrot was well-treated, unharmed, not underfed nor under-stimulated ○ Had adequate space to explore lab, given toys and interactions to prevent boredom. ● Negative Ethics ○ Kept in an artificial environment for extended period of time. ○ Participated in non-naturalistic behavior.

Usefulness/Applications ● Shows how non-primate animals can be taught to communicate using modelling and reinforcement.

Relation to Psych Approach ● Learning approach with cognitive elements.

Relation to Psych Issues ● Nature v. Nurture ○ Nurture based learning. human training shaped the parrot's behavior through rewards, he was able to demonstrate an important aspect of its cognition. ● Individual v. Situational ○ Situational factors (familiarity of objects) can affect an animal's ability to offer correct responses. ○ His abilities in familiar and novel testing show significant differences. higher rate of success on unfamiliar object pairs. ● Use of animals in psychological research ○ Animals are easier controls. ○ It allows for less bias on the fact that the experiment cannot be affected by gender or culture in which it was raised since it's not a child but a parrot. ■ Cannot test social influences.

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Pepperberg Parrot Study

Course: Introduction To Psychology (PSY 2012)

155 Documents
Students shared 155 documents in this course

University: University of North Florida

Was this document helpful?
Pepperberg Parrot Study Analysis
Relevant Background ● Primates
○ Due to their understanding of
language--researchers have
been able to teach language to
them via sign language or
pointing to symbols.
■ Premack
○ It has been seen that they have
been able to use and form
meaningful sentences.
● Other animals have also been able to
understand the idea of conceptual
categorization.
● Symbolic representation
● Birds--benefits the birds survival.
Purpose/Aim ● Aim--to see whether a parrot can use
vocal labels to demonstrate a symbolic
understanding of the concepts “same”
and “different”.
Hypothesis(es) None
Type of Study (Methodology) ● Animal case study
○ 26 months
● Trained and tested over a couple of
years.
● One subject
● Lab experiment
IV(s) & DV(s) ● Independent Variable--whether the
object is familiar or novel.
● Dependent Variable--Whether the
Parrot responds correctly to the
question about what is same and
different.
Participants/Sample ● African gray parrot
● Involved in prior research on
communication and cognition for
around 10 years.
● Free range during the day and caged at

Students also viewed

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