On 27 Aug 2010 at 16:00, Robin Abrahams wrote: > TIPSters-- > > This is my first piece for Salon, about the experiments at Marc Hauser's > Canine Cognition Lab: > > http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2010/08/27/canine_cognition_lab_marc_hauser
Interesting piece, Robin! Apropos of Paul Bernhard's comment on scepticism about these studies, I have a question. You were holding Milo back and then you released him. Did you know on each trial which bucket held the treat? True, it didn't matter as Milo didn't solve the problem anyway. But if he had, it might have been because he was able to use the experimenter-arrranged cue. Or you could have inadvertently provided a physical cue yourself. Given all the trouble over the studies purporting to show language use in primates, one would think they would taken elementary precautions to avoid a Clever Hans effect. All they had to do was to make sure you didn't know where the treat was. Did you? Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4456 or send a blank email to leave-4456-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
