A vocabulary test for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Abstract

Chimpanzees can communicate in American Sign Language (ASL) to independent human observers whose only source of information is the ASL signs of the chimpanzees. A vocabulary test was presented to 4 cross-fostered chimpanzees (4-6 years old). Thirty-five-millimeter color slides were projected on a screen that could be seen by the chimpanzee subject but not by the human observers. There were two observers: O1 was the questioner in the testing room with the subject; O2 was in a different room. Neither observer could see the other, or the responses of the other observer. O1 and O2 agreed in their readings of both correct and incorrect signs, and most of the signs were the correct ASL names of the slides. In order to show that the chimpanzees were naming natural language categories--that the sign DOG could refer to any dog, FLOWER to any flower, SHOE to any shoe--each test trial was a first trial in that test slides were presented only once. Analysis of errors showed that two aspects of the signs, gestural form and conceptual category, governed the distribution of errors.