To Critics of the Idea That Animals Can Learn Language

question 158

Multiple Choice

To critics of the idea that animals can learn language, a highly trained circus animal that responds to its trainer's verbal requests would not be convincing primarily because of the critics' arguments that such behavior ____.

• A) is simply not possible given the animal's small cortex
• B) has been shown to be a product of a hoax carried out by fraudulent researchers
• C) does not fit our understanding of evolutionary processes
• D) merely reflects behavioral conditioning