Can squirrel monkeys learn an ABⁿA grammar? A re-evaluation of Ravignani et al. (2013).

ABSTRACT: Ravignani et al. (2013) habituated squirrel monkeys to sound sequences conforming to an ABⁿA grammar (n = 1, 2, 3), then tested them for their reactions to novel grammatical and non-grammatical sequences. Although they conclude that the monkeys "consistently recognized and generalized the sequence ABⁿA," I remark that this conclusion is not robust. The statistical significance of results depends on specific choices of data analysis, namely dichotomization of the response variable and omission of specific data points. Additionally, there is little evidence of generalization to novel patterns (n = 4, 5), which is important to conclude that the monkeys recognized the ABⁿA grammar beyo

SUBMITTER: Ghirlanda S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5607910 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature