Рандрианасулу А.Э., ЛеВассеур, К. В.

Лингвистические/языковые эксперименты с дельфинами - остановка в развитии и пути обхода 

Независимый, Санкт-Петербург, Россия. Email: randrik@mail.ru (1). Independent, Hawaii/USA Email: cetaman@aol.com (2).

Тезисы доклада

В настоящий момент времени все длительные языковые проекты с китообразными свёрнуты, толком не начавшись (работы Хермана не являются двухсторонней коммуникацией - дельфины не имели возможности самостоятельно и независимо использовать искусственный язык-посредник). Но существует метод работы, не завязанный на обычную методику оперантного кондиционирования - и он позволяет решить не только проблему исследований, но и гораздо более важную проблему практической этики – возвращение дельфинов(китообразных) к самостоятельной/самоценной жизни после неволи. 

Randrianasulu, A.E., LeVasseur K. W.

Language/two-way communication research with dolphins: stalled, but we have way forward! 

Independent, Saint-Petersburg, Russia Email: randrik@mail.ru (1). Independent, Hawaii/USA Email: cetaman@aol.com (2).

Abstract

Currently all serious two-way communication/language work with dolphins seems to be stalled (Herman's main works can't be considered real two-way communication - dolphins were not allowed to use their artificial language systems on their own, by experiment's objectives and design). But we have another method, not tied to traditional operant conditioning. This method allows us not just un-stall current situation with research, but also solve much more important ethical problem, related to rehabilitation of ex-captive dolphins(toothed cetaceans), giving them chance to live independent life for their own sake/their own goals. 

As it well-known in scientific circles, language research with dolphins/cetaceans somewhat stalled after works of Lou Herman on language comprehension (Herman et al, 1984). I mean language production research. 
First, let me insert quote from the past, from the book "Investigations on cetacea" (Krushinskaya, 1986): " The data available indicate that the high level of cetacean brain development is associated with superb intellectual capabilities. However, studies of the dolphins' reasoning activity (intellect) are still in their infancy. The cognitive characteristics of cetaceans are far from being exhaustively explained. Further studies of the higher nervous activity in cetaceans, especially of their intellectual potential, should be considered the most promising field of experimental research with respect to the behaviour of these marine mammals. 
However, this calls for the development of new research strategies that are both adequate and reliable. Whether the full programme of one-going research on the establishment of two-way communication between dolphins and humans is feasible depends on a number of factors.

[...]

The progress of the study is to a great extent contingent on the compatibility of the methodological approach adopted with the physiological potential of the dolphin's receptor and effector systems. The prerequisites for the successful implementation of the research programme reside in the extraordinary development of the dolphin's acoustic analyzer and its ability to mimic artificially generated auditory signals within a wide range of frequencies.”

After this Krushinskaya remind readers about line of research she  and Leonind Krushinsky developed in late 60s-early 70s for testing reasoning abilities of non-humans. Oddly  enough, modern researchers  keep reinventing  their  experimental design again and again? Sometimes making claims contradicting to scientific  common sense (like, for example Clark [Clark, 2012] said, relying on  Jaakkola’s then-recent paper  “ Jaakkola et al. (2010) found that like many terrestrial animals, dolphins can track the spatial location of visible objects, but in contrast to great apes they cannot track the spatial location of hidden objects.”. This statement sounded strange-enough for  me, who exactly recalled  one of those early experiments by Krushinsky with  dolphins finding hidden objects! Moreover, on close  inspection, Jaakkola’s paper provided supportive  evidence for Kenneth’s  claims about food  usage during training: “ The dolphins were fed according to their normal daily routine, which typically included capelin, herring, and either smelt or sardines, three times per day, approximately 33% of which they received during experimental sessions. During non-experimental sessions, they continued to participate in other training sessions, including public programs and in-water interactions with trainers and guests.” . 33% of daily  food intake IS  very serious amount! And there were ‘other training sessions’, so despite Jaakkola’s claims on absence of  food deprivation I  can’t  agree here!  Chronic lack of  food [and water in case of cetaceans] as  motivator isn’t right  way to ask any questions, whole operant conditioning ideology developed  under influence of then-dominant behaviorist’s views both methodologically [see for example Fitzpatrick, 2008 – where he said in discussion of Morgan’s canon: “There are a host of examples from 20th century animal psychology of cases where cognitively sophisticated explanations for animal behaviour were simply ignored.” and comes as far as saying “The idea that all organisms are bundles of acquired stimulus-response connections emerged around the same time as Clever Hans. It went on to dominate animal psychology for most of the 20th century, and was a colossal evaluative error ill supported by evidence available even in the early part of that century.”] and ethically wrong, even if  we  move away from food  use, as Kuczaj suggested in some unpublished manuscript referenced in [Kuczaj, 2002]. Interestingly enough, yet another paper  surfaced  just during preparation of  this paper, apparently claiming results more in-line with previously-known and expected level of reasoning in dolphins, namely “Visible and invisible displacement with dynamic visual occlusion in
bottlenose dolphins” (Johnson, C.M., Sullivan, J., Buck, C.L., Trexel, J. & Scarpuzzi, M. (2014)). Yet, all this ‘play’ around hidden objects and ever-surfacing  signature  whistles can’t  hide  fact  we are  not moving  forward in potentially most fruitful area of research!

Back to Krushinskaya’s words.

“In summing up the results of morphological and behavioural cetacean studies under experimental conditions, it is justifiable to comment that, in toto, they unambiguously corroborate the extraordinary cognitive potential of the cetacean brain, enabling these animals to process large amounts of abstract information."

This text was written sometime around 1982–83 in Russian first, then was translated into English and published.
Keyword here is two-way communication. Lou Herman never moved to this stage, and other researchers continue to rely on little-successful methods, like keyboards. (diana-reiss [1]) For brief summary authors  can provide Dolphin Language Experiments Summary separately on demand.

One important bit, completely ignored by modern cetacean cognitive science is existence of few published works of Drs. V. I. Markov and V. M. Ostrovskaya (Markov and Ostrovskaya, 1990). It was only briefly discussed  in early 90th, and disappeared completely from any discussion. As recently as in 2013 I saw no mention of it. As an example I can cite …

“Are Conversations Between Dolphins and Humans Possible?” (Kuczaj, 2013)

Here is Kuczaj on same subject, at last he put nice picture of his 'keyboard', but apart from this he sounds like thousands of scientists lost their sleep trying to 'communicate' two-way with dolphins, and all fail ...

   “Two-Way Communication Between Dolphins and Humans
 There have been a number of attempts to provide contexts in which dolphins and humans could communicate with one another. These include the far-fetched dolphin-human translation device supposedly developed by Batteau and Markey (1967) that would provide “a basis for the development of a language between man and dolphin” (p. 84). Given the wide-spread interest in establishing dolphin-human communication, the lack of progress in the 46 years since this report demonstrates that the authors were at best somewhat premature in their claims. “

while at least he admits flaw of his own keyboard system (look at it, this huge untransportable monster)

“To be fair, this may have reflected issues with the communication system that was being used rather than a lack of ability on the dolphins’ part to engage in more complex communication. The keyboard was too large to facilitate timely activation of successive keys, especially for slow-swimming humans” and lately rightly proclaims “Advances in attempts to communicate with dolphins require both a dolphin-friendly system and communicative topics that go beyond that of providing dolphins with objects they desire. Otherwise, the communication that occurs will be quite limited.”

As you can see from Kuczaj’s references, Markov's work strategically absent! While Gregg with his " Are dolphins really smart? The mammal behind the myth. "and " Will humans ever be able to speak to or even understand dolphins? " definitely IN!

Moreover, it was Herman's 'suggestion' about absence of evidence for human-like-language system among wild  dolphins:  “As Herman (2009) recently noted, there is no evidence for human-like language in the communication systems of wild dolphins (see also Gregg, in press; Janik, 2009; 
Kuczaj, in press).”

But everyone who spend  time carefully reading available  literature on ape language experiments will see big unexplored gap between what was done and what  can be done (with and  most importantly for  cetaceans  themselves), not just realistically, but  cost-effective and ethically, not  only ‘on paper’, but  in everyday practice. As well-known ape language researcher Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and her collegue  said in popular book “Kanzi’s primal language” : “ Kanzi’s and
Panbanisha’s tests, however, are mediated by language. We describe new tasks for them and often they succeed immediately. […]  the test situation becomes meaningful for them in continuous conversation. “ Of course, language not simply disappeared between formal tests, and thus changed  
whole psychological atmosphere  for both humans and non-humans.

How to make comparable and even better open-ended scenario for cetaceans?

Current researchers completely ignore very interesting approach, developed by Kenneth W. LeVasseur. I'm not sure if it was ever published in full size in peer-reviewed journals, so very small quote will follow, full text available online [2] and can be send on demand. The matter of this new approach is the following.
Management Change
According to this proposal, three basic (but related) changes must occur in the classical dolphin holding facility management plan. The first change must be to the use of social reinforcement, exclusively, in training and communication with dolphins, rather than food reinforcement with its food deprivation as motivation control. This change is implemented through a language program utilizing a human whistled language. The second change must be a "feed at will" policy that can be expected to double the food budget at participating facilities. The third change involves either being, or being in close association with, a facility that has direct access to the open ocean and is compatible with the Third Phase concept. These changes will go far toward improving the quality of life and fertility of dolphins involved in close association with humans. Current technology and new teaching techniques make these changes possible.
Language Training
Since the mid-eighties a new way of working with highly social animals has been developed that does not depend on food deprivation to be effective. This development is a new approach to language teaching that uses the process of social bonding and the resulting bonds themselves to create consistent behavior. The technique is very similar to the way language is taught to human children. This approach utilizes numerous mandatory support programs and limitations that are consistent with the moral and ethical implications of the technique, and previous research. This novel system of working with dolphins deserves close scientific scrutiny. Such management and communication in a scientifically based program could receive the approval of dolphin and animal protection groups and significantly defuse the  current volatile atmosphere surrounding the issue of captive dolphins.
Third Phase
As mentioned earlier, the Third Phase of the Dexter Cate Third Phase Alternative to Dolphin Captivity refers to a additional "third" phase of open ocean release added to the two phases of current dolphin holding facilities - training and display (show). The third phase of open ocean release gives the captive dolphin a chance to leave the control of humans. Preferably, this release is within reasonable distance of the dolphin's original home range. In order for the program to work, the dolphins will have to be "talked" back into man-made enclosures. Offering released dolphins a choice of returning to close human / dolphin interactions in man-made enclosures for 6 to 8 months of the year, through the communication benefits of human whistled language, will effectively resolve the criticisms dolphin and animal protection groups have of dolphin holding facilities. This statement assumes that mortality and fertility / reproductive problems are drastically reduced or, preferably solved due to the new "dolphin friendly" environment.
To maintain the consistency of the premises used in this approach, there can be no additional dolphins captured for Third Phase programs. The program either works by liberating existing captive dolphins and then employing them in dolphin programs or it does not. Institutions participating in this approach must commit themselves totally to this end, otherwise it will not work or stand up to scrutiny by dolphin and animal protection groups. It is possible that dolphins, who have come ashore in strandings and require medical attention, can be offered the opportunity to participate in these programs, since they are undergoing the same trauma of human handling and captivity during treatment. Also, dolphins that are born in captivity would be able to participate in the Third Phase programs and could become excellent subjects for language training in both productive and receptive competencies.

Most important bit here is the completely novel training technique, coupled with fastest, most natural for dolphins way of doing I/O acoustical. Despite being novel, this "training" technique was proven in the wild (Herzing D.L., 2012). For some reason it was published only 12 years after research was done!

Right now I want to ask: IF anyone from scientific circles is up to task to implement Kenneth's work, _without_ compromises. I have special interest in Black Sea captive dolphins. Unfortunately, without _real_ scientific support from scientific community nothing can be done! Is there anybody
who wants and will be able to follow the proposed way?

At the end of  this paper I wish to say thank you to Vladimir Mourovets, who helped  to edit it.

References
[1] http://nationalaquarium.wordpress.com/tag/diana-reiss/
The next big piece of this “interspecies internet” will involve the creation of a touchscreen keyboard. Diana will then study how our dolphins interact with this keyboard, using the information gathered to add to the conversation about these amazing animals and how they communicate.
[2] http://www.whales.org.au/published/levasseur/index.html

Fay E. Clark
Marine mammal cognition and captive care:
A proposal for cognitive enrichment in zoos and aquariums
Journal of zoo and  aquarium research, published  online : 24 July 2013

Jaakkola, K., Emily Guarino, Mandy Rodriguez, Linda Erb, Marie Trone
What do dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) understand about hidden objects?
Animal Cognition, (2010) 13:103–120

Krushinskaya, N.L.
The behavior of cetaceans in Investigations of Cetacea, G. Pilleri Ed, 1986  

Markov, V. I. and V. M. Ostrovskaya 1990 Organization of communication system in Tursiops truncatus Montague. In: Sensory Abilities of Cetaceans, Thomas, J. and R. Kastelein eds. Plenum Press, New York.

Herman, Louis., Douglas G. Richards and James P. Wolz  Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins . Cognition, 16 (1984) 129-219

Herzing D.L., Fabienne Delfour and Adam A. Pack 
Responses of Human-Habituated Wild Atlantic Spotted Dolphins to Play Behaviors Using a Two-Way Human/Dolphin Interface. 
International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2012, 25, 137-165. 

Pär Segerdahl, William Fields and Sue Savage-Rumbaugh
Kanzi’s Primal Language The Cultural Initiation of Primates into Language
ISBN-13: 978–1–4039–9604–6 or ISBN-10: 1–4039–9604–0

Simon Fitzpatrick
Doing Away with Morgan’s Canon
Mind & Language, Vol. 23 No. 2 April 2008, pp. 224–246.

Stan A. Kuczaj II 
Are Conversations Between Dolphins and Humans Possible?
International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 2013, 26, 114-123.
http://www.comparativepsychology.org/ijcp-vol26-2/01.Kuczaj_FINAL.pdf

Stan A. Kuczaj II 
It Takes More Than Fish: The Psychology of Marine Mammal Training
International Journal of Comparative Psychology, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2002