Descartes (1642, p.14) said: "This seems to me a very strong argument to prove
that the reason why animals do not speak as we do is that ________" What best
finishes Descartes claim?
A. They were not made in the image of the Creator
B. They lack the organs enabling speech.
C. They use a language we humans do not understand.
D. They have no thoughts--only passions-- to express.
An eminent physician, ______ published the results of his dissection of an
infant chimpanzee --"The Anatomy of a Pygmy..(1699)"-- brought to him by a
sailor returning from Angola. He concluded it was "an intermediate link
between an Ape and Man."
A. Montaigne
B. Descartes
C. Tyson
D. LaMettrie
E. Wallace, A. R.
The author of "Philosophie Zoologique (1809)" ,_________, proposed that "moved
by the need to dominate and to see far and wide", a race of apes may have
slowly underwent morphological changes adapted to bipedal locomotion and later,
due to a felt need for improved communication, developed organs of speech and
language.
A. LaMettrie
B. Montaigne
C. Darwin, Charles
D. Lamarck
Weismann's discovery in 1885 of _________ ultimately destroyed belief in
Lamarck's notion of the inheritance of acquired traits.--even though it took
nearly 40 years for some to accept this conclusion.
A. the origin and function of egg and sperm cells
B. the "bottleneck" principle.
C. the principles of natural selection
D. human neoteny
Which of the following topical remarks was NOT part of Charles Darwin's
response in "Origins .(1871)" to those who claimed that humans are unique,
separated by an impassible barrier from the lower animals?
A. apes, build for themselves, temporary platforms...the first steps toward
architecture
B. that animals retain their mental individuality is unquestioned.
C. articulate language is not peculiar to man but found in various species of
monkey and ape.
D. as for tool use, the chimpanzee, in a state of nature cracks a native
fruit, somewhat like a walnut, with a stone.
Monkeys and apes have been shown to be capable of discriminating human speech
sounds. This ability demonstrates:
A. the presence of clearly defined and specialized speech recognition areas
in the brain.
B. hemispheric specialization with respect to language processing skills.
C. the temporal cortex may play some role in primate sound recognition.
D. nothing about language by itself - even dogs can tell what certain speech
sounds are.
After careful evaluation, no specific differences can be found between human
and chimps' ability to manipulate household objects.
A. True
B. False
Human brains are roughly five times as large as might be expected for a primate
of our size.
for our general build.
A. True
B. False
What phenomenon or principle underlies, in part, both differential
organization of the primate "sensory-motor " brain between different species
and the ability of a primate brain to regain control of movement when brain
damage occurs?
A. differential cytoarchitecture
B. ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny
C. neural pruning
D. movement-directed feedback to the brain
Figure 2.7 in HP shows one measure of hearing sensitivity-ability to
discriminate fine differences in frequency (pitch)--among a number of primate
species. From that figure, we can with most certainty conclude:
A: Tupia are the least able to detect a wide range of frequencies
(pitches).
B: Homo s. is the most sensitive in frequency discrimination.
C: There are no differences among the various primate species.
D: Chimpanzees have a greater ability to resolve fine differences in
frequencies than Macaca (monkey) .
Monkeys and apes exhibit a similar 'grin' and 'playface' and smile-like
expressions. Isolation experiments indicate these are not learned behaviors.
What best reflects Passingham's conclusion about human's tendencies to exhibit
very similar expressive behaviors?
A. this indicates human social life is primarily determined by genetic
influences.
B. the smile in all primates except humans is inherited from an ancient common
ancestor
C. one must be careful when drawing conclusions about the origins of similar
behaviors even in related species.
D. human smiling is purely a cultural adaptation.
There are at least two ways in which the structure of the eyes in nocturnal and
diurnal mammals tend to differ. One is the different relative frequencies of
rod and cone receptor cells; another is:
A. the interocular distance relative to head size
B. that noctural eyes have no ganglion cells
C. that in noctural eyes any ganglion cell is probably connected to only one
rod cell
D. in noctural eyes any ganglion is probably connected to very many rod cells.
How does the appeal to neoteny explain the very large human brain relative to
that of a chimp?
A. the human skull is much larger at birth
B. it suggests that the fetal growth rate of the brain is continued for a
while after birth.
C. human ancestors had larger brains than did chimp ancestors
D. brain size is not one of the human features accounted for by neoteny
What is the best interpretation of the concept of "allometry?"
A. a change in shape of a body feature correlated with an increase or decrease
in body size.
B. the tendency for large primates to live in social groups
C. the growth in ontogeny of long forelimbs
D. the tendency for monogamous males to be nearly the same size as their
female mates.
Which is NOT a typical feature of an orangutan life style or behavior?
A. Orangs are tree dwelling Asian apes.
B. Orangs are intelligent, social apes that live in groups of 25 to 50
individuals.
C. Orangs have a very slow reproductive rate; females typically bearing only a
few offspring in their lives.
D. Orangs are intelligent foragers, spending more than 10 hours each day
obtaining their diet of fruit and vegetation.
The author of "The Anatomy of a Pygmy (1699) reported 48 respects in which his
specimen more resembled a human than an ape but only 34 in which it was closer
to an ape than a human. We know today the specimen was an infant chimp but
that author did not. How might his conclusions have differed if he had been
brought an adult chimp? Explain your answer.
Gould (1977) says that human adaptations acted synergistically throughout their
gradual development. Briefly explain what he means, giving some examples to
make your answer clear.