Development of Semantic Reference for Location Symbols by Bottlenose Dolphins (<i>Tursiops truncatus</i>) Using a Two-Way Communication Keyboard

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Taylor, Alyssa

Contributors dc:contributor

• Donald Sacco
• Mark Xitco
• Mark Huff

• Dolphin
• communication
• development
• interspecies
• semantic
• reference
• Animal Studies
• Cognitive Psychology
• Comparative Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/373

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1420