Looking up the story in the New York Times quickly leads to a reference of a journal article abstract at
sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T2J-51N7RRD-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F08%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=483d469f2c83752f3cb690103df8bbdf&searchtype=a
Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents
Purchase $ 31.50
John W. Pilleya, , and Alliston K. Reidb, ,
a 101 Seal St., Spartanburg, SC 29301, USA
b Department of Psychology, Wofford College, 429N. Church St., Spartanburg, SC 29303, USA
Received 6 August 2010; revised 16 September 2010; accepted 30 November 2010. Available online 8 December 2010.
Thank you for this interesting and useful link. I am especially interested in your interpretation of the data.
Regarding thread topic: Churches rejecting science altogether.
I suggest rereading post 1.
Teaching or even implying that science is something evil is seriously detrimental to children’s education especially in the area of critical thinking. Children should be learning how to question. Isn’t that one of the goals of science? We question in order to seek information.
I did not read all 12 pages of the link in post 219. Nonetheless, the beginning can demonstrate what kind of questions need to be asked. The abstract identifies the subject of 4 experiments as Chaser, an extremely bright border collie.
The first question is how do border collies rate on the intelligence scale? How developed is this breed’s sentience? What are all the positive qualities?
What is interesting to me is that United States Border Collie Club, Inc. (USBCC). is dedicated to preserving the border collie as a working stock dog as opposed to the showing, judging, and breeding of Border Collies based upon their appearance. The USBCC promotes careful breeding for the preservation of working ability and the avoidance of genetic defects. One of their aims is to give people a better understanding and appreciation of the traditional Border Collie bred for work. In other words, these particular dogs are smart from the get-go.
According to the research paper, “Border Collie Comprehends Object Names as Verbal Referents”, Chaser is a registered female Border Collie. She was acquired when she was 8 weeks old and lived in the researcher’s home primarily as a pet as well as a research subject."
In other words, Chaser started life in a loving environment which is good for dog development as well as for child development. Interestingly, this paper refers to a 1978 research that included a scenario in which 3 and 4-year old children figured out which object they should choose. It is my understanding that Chaser was trained to choose.
Does this mean that young children are animals? What is the difference between them?
Experiment 1: investigating the ability of a border collie to learn proper nouns.
Section 2.1.1. Subject. “She [Chaser] exhibited the usual characteristics of her breed: intense visual focus/concentration, instinct to find, chase, herd, attentive to auditory cues even during complex visual stimulation (such as herding sheep), responsive to soft levels of praise and verbal correction, and boundless energy.”
In other words, this dog had a leg or two up as far as learning the steps of the experiments. Yet, experiment 1 provided four to five hours of daily training over a 3-year period to teach Chaser the proper-noun names of 1022 objects. If my math is correct, that would compare to children in first and second grade. (the previous 3 and 4-year olds plus three years of learning)
I don’t have a clue about the size of vocabulary in first and second grade. I do know that the curriculum for these grades includes a lot more than proper-noun names of 1022 objects. This is where the difference between a human and animal is observable.
In fairness to the researchers, other school subjects were not included in the study of Chaser. Chaser remains a very smart animal in the limited area being studied. This is where the difference in kind is observable.
Blessings,
granny
The quest for truth is worthy of the adventures of the journey.