Farewell to Nim Chimpsky

[r.n.campbell]

That might cut more ice if it had been preceded by a farewell to Beatrice
Gardner, who died of a heart attack recently.  The Gardners, along with
other ape language researchers, found their funds disappearing under a
sustained attack from 'fundamentalist' academics.  It could be argued that
this attack derived its main impetus from the negative outcomes of the Nim
Chimpsky experiment reported by Pettito, Seidenberg and Terrace.  Whether
that experiment was well conducted is not for me to say.

However, the episode persuaded me that 'the generative enterprise' was a
baneful influence not just over research on language acquisition, but over
work on cognition more generally.

For reaction to the attacks on ape language researchers, see:-

Linden, Eugene. 1986. Silent Partners. Times Books.

For my reaction, see my badly-published paper at:-
http://www.stir.ac.uk/psychology/Staff/rnc1/toronto.html

As for Nim Chimpsky, what sticks in my mind was the image of him rushing
across a compound to leap into the arms of Herbert Terrace, recognizing him
after a long interval.  Would Nim have done that had he known that
Terrace's research had been used to denigrate not only Nim's abilities, but
the abilities of chimpanzees as well?

Dr Robin N Campbell
Dept of Psychology, University of Stirling
STIRLING FK9 4LA, Scotland
tele: 01786-467649  facs: 01786-467641
email: r.n.campbell at stir.ac.uk
http://www.stir.ac.uk/departments/humansciences/psychology/Staff/rnc1/