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Scientific American Elephant Frontiers

Brown

Penultimate Amazing
Brown
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Aug 3, 2001
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Did anyone see the Scientific American Frontiers show involving communication among creatures with sound?

There was an experiment shown in the program, the experiment involving an elephant who lifted her foot in response to sounds. If she heard a sound, she lifted her foot. If she heard no sound, she didn't lift her foot. A person facing the elephant gave her a sign that she was being tested, basically telling the elephant: "Lift your foot if you hear a sound." If she gave a correct answer (lifted a foot when a sound was present or kept feet planted when sound was absent) the person gave her a reward.

Did anyone besides me think that this did NOT appear to be a double blind experiment?

In other words, it appeared to me that the person interacting with the elephant was told whether or not the elephant would be hearing a sound, presumably so the person could promptly reward the elephant for "right" answers. (The person had to be told whether or not the sound was present, because the sounds were below the range of human hearing.) As a result, the person knew in advance what the elephant was supposed to do, and the elephant could have been taking her cue from the person, rather than from the sound. This might explain some of the elephant's puzzling behavior.

It seemed to me that the person interacting with the elephant should be told after each test whether the elephant was right or wrong, but it appeared as though the person was told before each test.

Did anyone else get this impression?
 
As you describe it, it sounds like the "Clever Hans" effect. I did not see the program myself.
 
Don't people "handling" elephants use sticks with sharp pointy hooks on the end of them?
 
I did not see the program, so this is uniformed rambling. A point to remember is that these programs are often filmed as entertainment, and not as accurate presentations of experiments.
Therefore, it could be that the experimental data was obtained in a controlled study, but filmed inaccurately for dramatic effect.
 
spoonhandler said:
Does that we mean we could use parrots to read poker cues in opponents and judge when someone is lying?
Click to expand...

So that would be a polly-graph?

(rim shot)
 
fishbob said:
I did not see the program, so this is uniformed rambling. A point to remember is that these programs are often filmed as entertainment, and not as accurate presentations of experiments.
Click to expand...
That's possible. The "experiment" might have been staged for the benefit of Alan Alda, who is supposed to be the viewer's proxy.

Still, I had to wonder if something like "Clever Hans" might be happening.
 
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