Pepperberg (1987)

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XI Psychology (Learning Approach) Flashcards on Pepperberg (1987), created by Prarthana Nica on 19/04/2023.
Prarthana Nica
Flashcards by Prarthana Nica, updated more than 1 year ago
Prarthana Nica
Created by Prarthana Nica about 1 year ago
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Resource summary

Question Answer
aim if an African parrot could use vocal labels to demonstrate a symbolic understanding of the concepts of 'different' & 'same'
sample one African Grey parrot named Alex who had been involved in prior research on communication & cognition for 10 years
what was Alex already familiar with? colours: blue, green, yellow, rose materials: wood, cork, hide, paper, metallic items responding to verbal prompts
operational definition: response first vocalisation in response to a question
categorical labels 1. colour 2. shape 3. matter
why was Alex required to choose from 3 categories instead of 2? to reduce his chances of responding correctly by guessing- he would have been right 50% of the time this would have reduced internal validity
controls used in the task 1. materials paired by unassociated student 2. list of questions randomised to be unbiased 3. secondary trainer was used in the trials
questions asked to prevent fatigue effects 1. what colour? 2. what shape? 3. how many?
results for familiar objects Alex responded to: 99/129 trials + correction procedures & correctly answered 69/99 for first-trials
results for novel objects Alex responded to: 96/113 for trials + correction procedures & correctly answered 79/96 for first-trials
why might Alex have performed better on the novel trials? he might have been more motivated to receive the objects as rewards (as part of his continuous reinforcement) and investigate them
why was Alex trained despite his considerable vocabulary? so he could respond to questions with a categorical label
frequency & duration of training sessions 2-4 times a week & between 5 mins to an hour
training method model/rival approach
what questions was Alex asked during trials? 1. what's same? 2. what's different?
procedure: trial presented with 2 objects that could differ in 3 categories
correction procedure after Alex's response, the primary trainer repeated the vocalisation if the response was indistinct/incorrect, he was told 'No!', had the obj removed & the trainer turned their head away
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