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Viki (chimpanzee)

Viki (chimpanzee) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Viki (chimpanzee) rather than just read about it. In short: Viki was the subject of one of the first experiments in ape language, dating back to the late 1940s and early 1950s. Viki the chimpanzee was raised by Keith and Catherine Hayes in the same manner as a human infant, to see if she could learn human words.

Key takeaways

  • Viki (chimpanzee) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Viki (chimpanzee) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Viki (chimpanzee) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Viki was the subject of one of the first experiments in ape language, dating back to the late 1940s and early 1950s. Viki the chimpanzee was raised by Keith and Catherine Hayes in the same manner as a human infant, to see if she could learn human words. She was given speech therapy, which involved the Hayeses (her adopters) manipulating her lower jaw. Eventually, she was able to voice four words:

mama papa up cup Analysis on recordings of her vocalizations concluded she was "incapable of simultaneous recruitment of consonantal “frames” and vowel-like 'content' but she "successfully produced a small sample of humanlike consonantal speech sounds, including labial and, possibly, velar articulations". At the time, her extremely limited success was initially interpreted as showing that apes were incapable of using human language. However, further experiments in which chimpanzees were instructed in the use of American sign language indicated that Viki's achievements had been significantly hampered by physiological limitations: chimpanzees are not able to produce the sounds that make up human speech. Viki lived like a human, even with a human sibling, for three years with her trainers, Keith and Cathy Hayes in Orange Park, Florida, with the notion that the other failed attempts of teaching a non-human primate a human language failed because these studies used environments too dissimilar to a human's environment when infants learn language. Immersive language experienced failed, however, after three years Cathy Hayes said "the only obvious and important deficit in the ape's innate intelligence, as compared with man's, is a missing facility for using and understanding language". The faculty argument is common in the field of evolutionary linguistics and biolinguistics. Noam Chomsky called it a "language acquisition device" innate to humans which allows for our use of the matured "language organ" or faculty. Chomsky, conceding that language has share components across multiple species and domains, now uses the terms "Broad" and "Narrow," Narrow being the only human trait of discrete infinity.

See also List of individual apes

References

Further reading Hayes, Catherine (1951), The Ape in Our House. New York: Harper. ASIN B002ANLGA8 K.J. Hayes and C Hayes, C (October 1952). "Imitation in a home-raised chimpanzee". Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, volume 45, issue 2, pp. 450–459. doi:10.1037/h0053609 K.J. Hayes and C.H. Nissen. (1965). "Higher mental functions of a home-raised chimpanzee". In Schrier, A.M. and Stollnitz, F. (editors). Behaviour of Non-human Primates. pp. 50-115. New York. Academic Press. ISBN 978-1483251462

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Viki (chimpanzee)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Viki (chimpanzee) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Viki (chimpanzee) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Viki (chimpanzee) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Viki (chimpanzee)

In research
Viki (chimpanzee) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Viki (chimpanzee) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Viki (chimpanzee) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Individual animals in Florida, Individual apes involved in language studies, Individual chimpanzees, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Viki (chimpanzee) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.
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How to study Viki (chimpanzee) in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Viki (chimpanzee) means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Viki (chimpanzee) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Viki (chimpanzee) in simple terms?

Viki was the subject of one of the first experiments in ape language, dating back to the late 1940s and early 1950s. Viki the chimpanzee was raised by Keith and Catherine Hayes in the same manner as a human infant, to see if she could learn human words.

Why does Viki (chimpanzee) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Viki (chimpanzee)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Viki (chimpanzee).

Tags

  • Individual animals in Florida
  • Individual apes involved in language studies
  • Individual chimpanzees
  • Primate stubs

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