Of course, when we look at the behavior of human toddlers, we also cherrypick the interactions which can be construed to have meaning and ignore (or reprimand) the rest. I'm not sure that means that the toddlers aren't yet using higher order language skills. Maybe they're only using them sometimes, and the ability to use abstractions regularly only comes later.
Everything I've heard about African grays (including from the owner of one who lives in my neighborhood), makes me think they're mentally roughly the same as preschoolers. Granted, when I have an exchange with my preschooler that resembles the one quoted above about the key, she doesn't turn around and shit at me, but she does burst into incoherent howls which aren't much more communicative.
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Date: 2004-02-15 08:23 am (UTC)Everything I've heard about African grays (including from the owner of one who lives in my neighborhood), makes me think they're mentally roughly the same as preschoolers. Granted, when I have an exchange with my preschooler that resembles the one quoted above about the key, she doesn't turn around and shit at me, but she does burst into incoherent howls which aren't much more communicative.