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Bottlenose dolphins understand relationships between concepts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2008

Louis M. Herman ,
Robert K. Uyeyama  and
Adam A. Pack
Louis M. Herman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; and The Dolphin Institute, Honolulu, HI 96814. lherman@hawaii.eduhttp://www.dolphin-institute.orguyeyama@gmail.comhttp://www.dolphin-institute.orgpack@hawaii.eduhttp://www.dolphin-institute.org
Robert K. Uyeyama
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; and The Dolphin Institute, Honolulu, HI 96814. lherman@hawaii.eduhttp://www.dolphin-institute.orguyeyama@gmail.comhttp://www.dolphin-institute.orgpack@hawaii.eduhttp://www.dolphin-institute.org
Adam A. Pack
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; and The Dolphin Institute, Honolulu, HI 96814. lherman@hawaii.eduhttp://www.dolphin-institute.orguyeyama@gmail.comhttp://www.dolphin-institute.orgpack@hawaii.eduhttp://www.dolphin-institute.org
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Abstract

We dispute Penn et al.'s claim of the sharp functional discontinuity between humans and nonhumans with evidence in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) of higher-order generalizations: spontaneous integration of previously learned rules and concepts in response to novel stimuli. We propose that species-general explanations that are “bottom-up” in approach are more plausible than Penn et al.'s innatist approach of a genetically prespecified supermodule.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 139 - 140
Copyright
Copyright ©Cambridge University Press 2008

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