Animal Communication Quiz – Animal Behavior Study Guide and Practice
Questions
Modes of Animal Communication - ANS ✔✔Visual (facial expression, posture, gesture), Auditory
(whistles, clicks, hums), Vibrational signals (snakes), Electrical impulses (aquatic animals),
chemical impulses (ants; this is least understood mode), Touch (fighting), and Thermal.
Functions of Animal Communication - ANS ✔✔Mating, alarms, food signals, territory, signal
domination or submission, others (mourning, socializing, playing).
What is communication? - ANS ✔✔The process of acting on information; the discriminatory
response of an organism to a stimulus; a process whereby people assign meanings to stimuli in
order to make sense of the word.
Theory of Mind - ANS ✔✔The ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, intents, desires) to
oneself and others, and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions and
perspectives that are different from one's own.
What is meaning? - ANS ✔✔Most philosophers of language believe that meaning arises from a
web of associations between signs; it's compositional and flexible; not always transparent.
Is animal communication meaningful? - ANS ✔✔Highly constrained; signals do point to specific
referents but they lack "meaning" beyond contextual cues. Very little voluntary control of
signals.
What did Nim movie tell us about animal communication? - ANS ✔✔Herbert Terrace concluded
that Nim learned to repeat appropriate signs in context for reward, not to express ideas,
thoughts, like a human child. NO use of human grammar; project also contested that Nim was
not given a proper chance.
Questions
Modes of Animal Communication - ANS ✔✔Visual (facial expression, posture, gesture), Auditory
(whistles, clicks, hums), Vibrational signals (snakes), Electrical impulses (aquatic animals),
chemical impulses (ants; this is least understood mode), Touch (fighting), and Thermal.
Functions of Animal Communication - ANS ✔✔Mating, alarms, food signals, territory, signal
domination or submission, others (mourning, socializing, playing).
What is communication? - ANS ✔✔The process of acting on information; the discriminatory
response of an organism to a stimulus; a process whereby people assign meanings to stimuli in
order to make sense of the word.
Theory of Mind - ANS ✔✔The ability to attribute mental states (beliefs, intents, desires) to
oneself and others, and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions and
perspectives that are different from one's own.
What is meaning? - ANS ✔✔Most philosophers of language believe that meaning arises from a
web of associations between signs; it's compositional and flexible; not always transparent.
Is animal communication meaningful? - ANS ✔✔Highly constrained; signals do point to specific
referents but they lack "meaning" beyond contextual cues. Very little voluntary control of
signals.
What did Nim movie tell us about animal communication? - ANS ✔✔Herbert Terrace concluded
that Nim learned to repeat appropriate signs in context for reward, not to express ideas,
thoughts, like a human child. NO use of human grammar; project also contested that Nim was
not given a proper chance.
