Question 1

Hypotheses regarding the ritualization process focus on characteristics of the _____ of a signal that influence its evolution.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Hypotheses regarding the ritualization process focus on...

Question 2

Females of the túngara frog (Physalaemus coloradorum) prefer calls by males that have had "chucks" artificially added to them over the normal male calls of their own species. The chucks are a normal part of the male calls of another closely related frog species (P. pustulosus), in which females prefer males that produce low frequency chucks. This suggests that the female preference for chuck calls

Accepted Answer

The preference of female túngara frogs for calls with artificially added chucks, despite these not being a natural part of their own species' calls, suggests that this preference exploits an existing sensory bias. This bias may have predated the evolution of chuck calls in the closely related species, indicating that the preference for such calls was not specifically developed for them but rather tapped into a pre-existing sensory preference.

Question 3

Diversity in signal forms both between and within species can be produced by differences in characteristics of the

Accepted Answer

Diversity in signal forms can be produced by differences in the environment (which can affect how signals are transmitted and received), the receiver (different receivers may interpret or be sensitive to different signals), and the sender (different senders may produce different types of signals based on their physical or physiological characteristics). Therefore, all of the above options contribute to the diversity in signal forms.

Question 4

Small bodied Central and South American primates known as tamarins and marmosets are LEAST likely to use signals that incorporate

Accepted Answer

The answer of Small bodied Central and South American primates...

Question 5

The acoustic adaptation hypothesis proposes that the acoustic properties of bird song are shaped by habitat structure. More specifically, for example, which of the following characteristics would NOT be predicted for songs being produced by birds living in a habitat with dense foliage?

Accepted Answer

Bird songs in dense foliage typically have lower frequencies to reduce attenuation and absorption by the vegetation. High frequencies do not propagate as well in such environments.

Question 6

When Boncaraglio and Saino (2007) carried out a meta-analysis testing the general validity of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis, they found that habitat structure

Accepted Answer

Boncaraglio and Saino (2007) found that habitat structure does significantly influence the acoustic properties of bird songs, but the effect is relatively weak.

Question 7

An environmental characteristic that has been found to affect the speed with which some lizards perform a variety of displays (head bobs, push ups, dewlap extensions, etc.) is

Accepted Answer

The answer of An environmental characteristic that has been found...

Question 8

Cummings (2004, 2007), studying the marine fish, surfperch, found that the visual pigments for deepwater and for shallow water surfperch differed in a way that matched the visual characteristics of their respective prey, and that those differences were also related to species typical differences in color patterns of males.

Accepted Answer

Deepwater surfperch have visual pigments adapted to their environment, which is typically less colorful and more about variations in brightness due to limited light penetration. This adaptation would logically make them better at detecting brightness differences rather than color differences. The statement about males differing more in brightness than color aligns with this environmental adaptation, as color differences would be less noticeable in deepwater conditions.

Question 9

Chimpanzee Viki, reared by Keith and Cathy Hayes (1951), was, in retrospect, doomed from the beginning to fail in her attempts to acquire a particular type of language, at least in part because she lacked a gene called FOXP2 and, thus, she couldn't

Accepted Answer

Chimpanzees, including Viki, lack the FOXP2 gene in the form that is associated with the fine motor control necessary for producing spoken language, which is why Viki was unable to talk.

Question 10

Chimpanzees Washoe, Sarah, and Lana were all much more successful in their attempts at language learning than was chimpanzee Viki because their means of communication did NOT involve

Accepted Answer

Washoe, Sarah, and Lana used alternative means of communication such as lexigrams, plastic chips, and sign language, which do not rely on vocal speech. Viki, on the other hand, was less successful because her training focused on vocal speech, which is difficult for chimpanzees due to their physical vocal tract differences from humans.

Question 11

Herbert Terrace was highly critical of the ape/language work, concluding that the animals were simply imitating their trainers. Later work by others suggested that

Accepted Answer

Later research indicated that language-trained apes could indeed use signs or lexigrams symbolically, which goes beyond mere labeling and suggests a deeper understanding of language than Terrace's conclusion of mere imitation.

Question 12

Chimpanzees Austin and Sherman (Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 1978), when tested for their ability to use lexigrams to specify which of several foods was in a container when only one of them had observed the container being baited,

Accepted Answer

Chimpanzees Austin and Sherman were able to effectively communicate which food was in the container to each other, regardless of which one had seen the container being baited, demonstrating their ability to use lexigrams for communication.

Question 13

Bonobo Kanzi's (Pan paniscus) use of language (Savage-Rumbaugh et al. 2001) is unique in that he

Accepted Answer

Kanzi's language use is unique because he has shown the ability to understand spoken English and carry out complex requests (A), he spontaneously produces vocalizations that are contextually relevant (B), and he learned to use lexigrams without direct training, simply by observing his mother (C). These combined abilities distinguish his use of language.

Question 14

Donald Griffin (1978, 1981, 1984) has suggested that it might be possible to discover something about animals' thoughts and feelings by

Accepted Answer

Donald Griffin suggested that understanding animals' natural communication methods could provide insights into their thoughts and feelings, emphasizing the importance of observing and interpreting their inherent ways of interacting.

Question 15

Marc Hauser (1998) used habituation to determine how rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) classify food calls. He found that when they hear food calls they classify them

Accepted Answer

Hauser's research demonstrated that rhesus monkeys classify food calls by their meaning, with the calls conveying information about the quality of the food, indicating whether it is high or low.

Quiz 17: The Evolution of Communication