Title
Contingency in requests of signing chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Document Type
Article
Department or Administrative Unit
Primate Behavior and Ecology
Publication Date
1-2012
Abstract
Conversational interactions depend on partners making contingent responses. This experiment examined the responses of five chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), Washoe, Moja, Tatu, Dar and Loulis, to four conversational conditions. Following the chimpanzee’s request, a human interlocutor either: (1) complied with the request, (2) provided an unrequested item or activity, (3) refused to comply or (4) did not respond to the request. The chimpanzees’ responses were contingent on the conversational input of the interlocutor. When their requests were satisfied, the chimpanzees most often ceased signing. However, when their requests were misunderstood, refused or not acknowledged, the chimpanzees repeated and revised. This pattern of responses is comparable to patterns of conversational responses in human children.
Recommended Citation
Leitten, L., Jensvold, M. L. A., Fouts, R. S., & Wallin, J. M. (2012). Contingency in requests of signing chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Interaction Studies, 13(2), 147–164. https://doi.org/10.1075/is.13.2.01lei
Journal
Interaction Studies
Rights
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Comments
This article was originally published in Interaction Studies. The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.
Due to copyright restrictions, this article is not available for free download from ScholarWorks @ CWU.