Article Responses
1) Gorillas Seen Using "Baby Talk" Gestures—A First:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120612-gorillas-baby-talk-humans-evolution-animals-science/
This article talks about how gorillas use“baby talk” to communicate with their youngsters which may have evolved into humans being able to talk. Researchers noticed that older gorillas used gestures to their youngsters as if they we talking to them or trying to tell them something and they also used touching. The older gorillas touched the younger ones, and used gestures like stroking and grabbing as a way of communicating. Their behaviour showed evidence of using gestural motherese, which are the gestures that mothers use to communicate with their children. It was an international communication mode by which mothers talk to their infants. Based on these facts, scientists believe that this is how human communication evolved. We can see that gorillas communicate the same way we do which is why scientists believe that human communication may have evolved from gorillas.
Scientists believe that gorillas communicating with touching and gestures represent how human ancestors were able to teach their youngsters and had great teaching abilities.
My view on this article is that it is an amazing way to provide a connection between how humans evolved from primates. Seeing how gorillas can communicate by gestures and touching, it shows how much we have evolved by being able to communicate fully. I think it is an amazing discovery that they found that gorillas can communicate to each other in a way that we communicate with
our children. The ideas in the article impact me as a citizen because you learn more about the world and how we may have evolved from primates and it affects you as a student because you can relate this discovery to the theory of evolution and you gain knowledge. In the professional field, it impacts them because you just make a new discovery and it is a big deal as it provides another step into answering the questions of evolution. Knowing that gorillas communicate in the same way as us changes how we used to think and make us think in a whole new level about what more is possible and what similarities gorillas and humans have. An advantage of this new discovery is that you gain information about how humans may be related to primates and we learn more about gorillas. A disadvantage is that it adds to the debate for creationism and evolution. It adds to evolution because this may be evidence that humans evolved from primates because they use certain forms of communication that humans do when communicating with babies. The next step to improve the idea is to examine and observe if there are other forms of communication that links humans to gorillas.
Gorillas Seen Using "Baby Talk" Gestures—A First. (n.d.). Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. Retrieved June 14, 2012, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120612-gorillas-baby-talk-humans-evolution-animals-science/
2) Monkeys Recognize Poor Grammar:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120612-gorillas-baby-talk-humans-evolution-animals-science/
This article is about monkeys that can recognize poor grammar. Scientists wanted to see if monkeys were able to tell the difference between good and poor grammar, and if monkeys could understand words that have suffixes and prefixes. So the
scientists took half of the monkeys and played words that had a constant suffix and in this case it was shoy and the other half heard words that had constant prefix, which was shoy. The next day after the words were repeated for 30 minutes, and recordings of the words were played for individuals from each group. The group of monkeys that had the words that had the suffix of shoy were played a list of words that had the suffix of shoy but then sometimes the words had a prefix of shoy and at that the monkey would look towards the speaker. The same goes for the other group of monkeys, as those monkeys learnt words that had a prefix of shoy and when the scientists played words that had a suffix of shoy, the monkeys would look towards the speakers. When the monkeys look towards the speaker, it indicated that the monkeys knew that the words were wrong because it wasn’t what they learned. After this experiment, scientists realized that monkeys were able to understand the difference between suffixes and prefixes.
I think that this experiment is fascinating, and the fact that monkeys are able to understand the basis of our language even if it just some words is amazing. Humans used to believe that humans and primates weren’t alike but this shows that we are more alike than we know. The fact that monkeys are able to understand human words shows that they are smarter than we may give them credit for. The ideas in this article would impact/ affect me as a citizen and as a student because I get to learn more about what is going on in the world and I get to see how we may have evolved from primates. This discovery affects professionals in the field because it shows that monkeys have the ability to understand language and the different fixes and this is such an amazing
discovery because we don’t think that monkeys can understand word tenses and word forms but it is amazing that they can understand the difference between words they were taught and other“incorrect words”. To improve this idea, scientists can experiment to see if monkeys can understand other parts of our grammar not just prefixes and suffixes.
Monkeys Recognize Poor Grammar. (n.d.). Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. Retrieved June 14, 2012, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090708-monkey-grammar.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120612-gorillas-baby-talk-humans-evolution-animals-science/
This article talks about how gorillas use“baby talk” to communicate with their youngsters which may have evolved into humans being able to talk. Researchers noticed that older gorillas used gestures to their youngsters as if they we talking to them or trying to tell them something and they also used touching. The older gorillas touched the younger ones, and used gestures like stroking and grabbing as a way of communicating. Their behaviour showed evidence of using gestural motherese, which are the gestures that mothers use to communicate with their children. It was an international communication mode by which mothers talk to their infants. Based on these facts, scientists believe that this is how human communication evolved. We can see that gorillas communicate the same way we do which is why scientists believe that human communication may have evolved from gorillas.
Scientists believe that gorillas communicating with touching and gestures represent how human ancestors were able to teach their youngsters and had great teaching abilities.
My view on this article is that it is an amazing way to provide a connection between how humans evolved from primates. Seeing how gorillas can communicate by gestures and touching, it shows how much we have evolved by being able to communicate fully. I think it is an amazing discovery that they found that gorillas can communicate to each other in a way that we communicate with
our children. The ideas in the article impact me as a citizen because you learn more about the world and how we may have evolved from primates and it affects you as a student because you can relate this discovery to the theory of evolution and you gain knowledge. In the professional field, it impacts them because you just make a new discovery and it is a big deal as it provides another step into answering the questions of evolution. Knowing that gorillas communicate in the same way as us changes how we used to think and make us think in a whole new level about what more is possible and what similarities gorillas and humans have. An advantage of this new discovery is that you gain information about how humans may be related to primates and we learn more about gorillas. A disadvantage is that it adds to the debate for creationism and evolution. It adds to evolution because this may be evidence that humans evolved from primates because they use certain forms of communication that humans do when communicating with babies. The next step to improve the idea is to examine and observe if there are other forms of communication that links humans to gorillas.
Gorillas Seen Using "Baby Talk" Gestures—A First. (n.d.). Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. Retrieved June 14, 2012, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120612-gorillas-baby-talk-humans-evolution-animals-science/
2) Monkeys Recognize Poor Grammar:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/06/120612-gorillas-baby-talk-humans-evolution-animals-science/
This article is about monkeys that can recognize poor grammar. Scientists wanted to see if monkeys were able to tell the difference between good and poor grammar, and if monkeys could understand words that have suffixes and prefixes. So the
scientists took half of the monkeys and played words that had a constant suffix and in this case it was shoy and the other half heard words that had constant prefix, which was shoy. The next day after the words were repeated for 30 minutes, and recordings of the words were played for individuals from each group. The group of monkeys that had the words that had the suffix of shoy were played a list of words that had the suffix of shoy but then sometimes the words had a prefix of shoy and at that the monkey would look towards the speaker. The same goes for the other group of monkeys, as those monkeys learnt words that had a prefix of shoy and when the scientists played words that had a suffix of shoy, the monkeys would look towards the speakers. When the monkeys look towards the speaker, it indicated that the monkeys knew that the words were wrong because it wasn’t what they learned. After this experiment, scientists realized that monkeys were able to understand the difference between suffixes and prefixes.
I think that this experiment is fascinating, and the fact that monkeys are able to understand the basis of our language even if it just some words is amazing. Humans used to believe that humans and primates weren’t alike but this shows that we are more alike than we know. The fact that monkeys are able to understand human words shows that they are smarter than we may give them credit for. The ideas in this article would impact/ affect me as a citizen and as a student because I get to learn more about what is going on in the world and I get to see how we may have evolved from primates. This discovery affects professionals in the field because it shows that monkeys have the ability to understand language and the different fixes and this is such an amazing
discovery because we don’t think that monkeys can understand word tenses and word forms but it is amazing that they can understand the difference between words they were taught and other“incorrect words”. To improve this idea, scientists can experiment to see if monkeys can understand other parts of our grammar not just prefixes and suffixes.
Monkeys Recognize Poor Grammar. (n.d.). Daily Nature and Science News and Headlines | National Geographic News. Retrieved June 14, 2012, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090708-monkey-grammar.html