The ability for humans to communicate with another species has been an aspiration and well documented. One example is through training animals to make associations between a designated cue and conditioned response (Pryor, 1986). Two-way communication, however, in which both species can express wants/needs has been predominantly pursued with apes and dolphins. Studies conducted by Louis Herman demonstrated the capabilities of dolphins to comprehend complex semantic and syntactic commands in an artificial language system (Herman, Richards, & Wolz, 1984). Researchers working with primates have used American Sign Language, a computer keyboard system with discrete lexigrams, and a portable lexigram keyboard (Gardner & Gardner, 1969; Rumbaugh, 1977; Savage-Rumbaugh, 1986). Savage-Rumbaugh decided to take a different approach to learning after one individual demonstrated the ability to use the keyboard without structured training, rather humans would model by using the symbols during daily interactions.
The following study aimed to follow a similar approach, to determine if dolphins demonstrate comparable success in demonstrating comprehension and production utilizing a keyboard, specifically for location symbols. The dolphins demonstrated the ability to learn to use the keyboard and were able to make associations between location symbol and referent. Dolphins showed greater than chance levels of visiting a correct location first after key activation. Overall, there was a significant decrease in the amount of time between key activation and dolphin arrival time to the location. The results suggest the dolphins did develop an understanding of a location symbol, and its referent, the location in the enclosure.
","abstract_html":"<p>The ability for humans to communicate with another species has been an aspiration and well documented. One example is through training animals to make associations between a designated cue and conditioned response (Pryor, 1986). Two-way communication, however, in which both species can express wants/needs has been predominantly pursued with apes and dolphins. Studies conducted by Louis Herman demonstrated the capabilities of dolphins to comprehend complex semantic and syntactic commands in an artificial language system (Herman, Richards, & Wolz, 1984). Researchers working with primates have used American Sign Language, a computer keyboard system with discrete lexigrams, and a portable lexigram keyboard (Gardner & Gardner, 1969; Rumbaugh, 1977; Savage-Rumbaugh, 1986). Savage-Rumbaugh decided to take a different approach to learning after one individual demonstrated the ability to use the keyboard without structured training, rather humans would model by using the symbols during daily interactions.</p> <p>The following study aimed to follow a similar approach, to determine if dolphins demonstrate comparable success in demonstrating comprehension and production utilizing a keyboard, specifically for location symbols. The dolphins demonstrated the ability to learn to use the keyboard and were able to make associations between location symbol and referent. Dolphins showed greater than chance levels of visiting a correct location first after key activation. Overall, there was a significant decrease in the amount of time between key activation and dolphin arrival time to the location. The results suggest the dolphins did develop an understanding of a location symbol, and its referent, the location in the enclosure.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Taylor, Alyssa"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Donald Sacco","Mark Xitco","Mark Huff"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:50Z","subjects":["Dolphin","communication","development","interspecies","semantic","reference","Animal Studies","Cognitive Psychology","Comparative Psychology","Developmental Psychology","Experimental Analysis of Behavior"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/373","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Donald Sacco","Mark Xitco","Mark Huff"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Taylor, Alyssa"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-06-20T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Dolphin","communication","development","interspecies","semantic","reference","Animal Studies","Cognitive Psychology","Comparative Psychology","Developmental Psychology","Experimental Analysis of Behavior"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/373"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The ability for humans to communicate with another species has been an aspiration and well documented. One example is through training animals to make associations between a designated cue and conditioned response (Pryor, 1986). Two-way communication, however, in which both species can express wants/needs has been predominantly pursued with apes and dolphins. Studies conducted by Louis Herman demonstrated the capabilities of dolphins to comprehend complex semantic and syntactic commands in an artificial language system (Herman, Richards, & Wolz, 1984). Researchers working with primates have used American Sign Language, a computer keyboard system with discrete lexigrams, and a portable lexigram keyboard (Gardner & Gardner, 1969; Rumbaugh, 1977; Savage-Rumbaugh, 1986). Savage-Rumbaugh decided to take a different approach to learning after one individual demonstrated the ability to use the keyboard without structured training, rather humans would model by using the symbols during daily interactions.
The following study aimed to follow a similar approach, to determine if dolphins demonstrate comparable success in demonstrating comprehension and production utilizing a keyboard, specifically for location symbols. The dolphins demonstrated the ability to learn to use the keyboard and were able to make associations between location symbol and referent. Dolphins showed greater than chance levels of visiting a correct location first after key activation. Overall, there was a significant decrease in the amount of time between key activation and dolphin arrival time to the location. The results suggest the dolphins did develop an understanding of a location symbol, and its referent, the location in the enclosure.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Development of Semantic Reference for Location Symbols by Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Using a Two-Way Communication Keyboard"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Donald Sacco","Mark Xitco","Mark Huff"],"dc:creator":["Taylor, Alyssa"],"dc:date.available":["2018-06-20T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The ability for humans to communicate with another species has been an aspiration and well documented. One example is through training animals to make associations between a designated cue and conditioned response (Pryor, 1986). Two-way communication, however, in which both species can express wants/needs has been predominantly pursued with apes and dolphins. Studies conducted by Louis Herman demonstrated the capabilities of dolphins to comprehend complex semantic and syntactic commands in an artificial language system (Herman, Richards, & Wolz, 1984). Researchers working with primates have used American Sign Language, a computer keyboard system with discrete lexigrams, and a portable lexigram keyboard (Gardner & Gardner, 1969; Rumbaugh, 1977; Savage-Rumbaugh, 1986). Savage-Rumbaugh decided to take a different approach to learning after one individual demonstrated the ability to use the keyboard without structured training, rather humans would model by using the symbols during daily interactions.
The following study aimed to follow a similar approach, to determine if dolphins demonstrate comparable success in demonstrating comprehension and production utilizing a keyboard, specifically for location symbols. The dolphins demonstrated the ability to learn to use the keyboard and were able to make associations between location symbol and referent. Dolphins showed greater than chance levels of visiting a correct location first after key activation. Overall, there was a significant decrease in the amount of time between key activation and dolphin arrival time to the location. The results suggest the dolphins did develop an understanding of a location symbol, and its referent, the location in the enclosure.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/373"],"dc:subject":["Dolphin","communication","development","interspecies","semantic","reference","Animal Studies","Cognitive Psychology","Comparative Psychology","Developmental Psychology","Experimental Analysis of Behavior"],"dc:title":["Development of Semantic Reference for Location Symbols by Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) Using a Two-Way Communication Keyboard"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:50Z"}