Autism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd ) - 1180 Words

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Autism defines as a developmental disability affecting verbal, and non-verbal communication and social interaction. Many experts estimated that 1 out of 68 children are diagnosed with autism and researchers are not sure about what causes it? There are numerous treatment to support children with autism but there is no known cure (Mash and Wolfe, 2015). In article,The Kid Who Beat Autism, Ruth Padawer states that autism can be cured with A.B.A therapy whereas The Kid Who Don t Beat Autism Joel Yanofsky refers that autism cannot be cured. I believe it depends upon an individual. One patient can significantly develop while other remains the same. Both articles helped me to draw a conclusion for my claim. As Padawer mentioned B who was the patient of Autism recovered with the help of ABA therapy. According to the Yanofsky, Matthew who recieved the same therapy as B did not recovered. While it sounds promising that autism can be treated, it is important to a cknowledge that autism is a highly complex disorder with many different symptoms. Hence the saying: â€Å"If you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism.† (Yanofsky ). This quote states that while a certain type of treatment might be very helpful for one child, it might not be as effective for another child. Reseachers have confirmed that a significant number of autistic children legitimately lose their diagnosis. ThoseShow MoreRelatedAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1722 Words   |  7 Pagesin every sixty-eight births are diagnosed with the Autism spectrum disorder in other words (ASD), which is about one percent of the world’s population. And that more than three point five million people in America live with a person who has the Autism spectrum disorder. We all know that Autism is a spectrum disorder in which an abnormality is developed in the brain. It is a long life condition that has no cure for itself. People who have Autism face many diff iculties in their communication and theirRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1441 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a hereditary neurodevelopmental disorder. Like many other psychological disorders, it is commonly misunderstood in popular culture. Many allude to it casually, often equating it with crippling social awkwardness and disability when it is in fact a spectrum disorder with many degrees of severity. It is somewhat of an enigma within the scientific community as well; there are many things we do not know about ASD and there is ongoing research to learn moreRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1569 Words   |  7 Pagesdiagnoses for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) occur has seen a dramatic growth in numbers. With diagnoses for ASD increasing, more siblings are also being found to have grown up with a sister or brother with autism spectrum disorder. Previous studies have shown no consensus on whether or not siblings of persons with ASD are at risk for negative effects. However, patterns of anxiety among these siblings are being examined to see if charac teristics of a child with autism spectrum disorder and their parentsRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1535 Words   |  7 PagesHow Autism Influences the Interactions with Others There is a little boy that gets up every morning and goes to school. He goes home to his parents after school each day. He eats, sleeps, and plays just like any other child. There is one difference. He sees the world in a unique way than most other children not affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder. The boy’s life and actions are a bit different and can be challenging for him. He needs understanding parents, family members, and teachers. Autism SpectrumRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1444 Words   |  6 PagesAutism Spectrum Disorder Dustin S. Staats University of Central Oklahoma â€Å"Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) formerly known as just Autism, is a disorder that affects about 1 in 68 children here in the United States.† (Facts about ASD) This is a pretty high prevalence and the number is continuing to rise. â€Å"Autism is a developmental disability that can cause significant impairments in behavioral, communication, and social aspects of everyday life.†(Facts about ASD). The intellectual functioning ofRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1369 Words   |  6 PagesAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Introduction I don t think people understand how unique children with Autism are or the demands of caring for a child with Autism is. In order to grasp the effect of this disability has on a child or their family it is important to understand the characteristics of a child living with Autism. So for you to understand I will be talking about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Autism in a childs life. I will be talking about what autism is, the history and descriptionRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1587 Words   |  7 Pages Topic: Autism Spectrum Disorder  (ASD) Purpose: My audience will learn the importance of recognizing early signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder in children. Thesis: It is important to understand the early signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and why early intervention is the best treatment. Introduction: Gain/maintain attention There is a television show I like to watch called â€Å"The Big Bang Theory, maybe some of you have seen it. This show focuses on the relationships between a group of friends, someRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd ) Essay1168 Words   |  5 PagesAutism Spectrum Disorder, as defined by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders, refers to a group of complex neurodevelopment disorders characterized by repetitive and characteristic patterns of behavior and difficulties with social communication and interaction (ninds.nih.gov). Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a very complex developmental disorder and the term ‘spectrum’ was added to the original term simply known as ‘Autism’ due to the wide range of symptoms associated with the disorderRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1801 Words   |  8 PagesAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by qualitative impairments in social interaction and communication, and restricted, repetitive behavior (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), and is associated with impairments in executive functions. Autism Spectrum Disorder is also defined as a group of disorders that impair an individual’s ability to understand and engage in the give-and-take of social relationships. (Boyd, 2015) Autism is a well-knownRead MoreAutism Spectrum Disorder ( Asd )1852 Words   |  8 PagesThe following paper is going to cover the topic of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Using research and data collected from various authors and journalists the paper will describe the different variations of autism and discuss the impact autism has on a person- in society, at home, in the classroom, and in their careers. Beginning at infancy, autism has a major impact on not just the child but their family’s life as well. The child’s lack of ability to interpret social cues, gestures, and expressions

Short Talks free essay sample

On Stereotypes- â€Å"All black people like chicken,† is one of the most commonly known stereotypes but recently I ran into some really interesting stereotypes; like all black people have gaps, if your black your house has roaches, black people were more helpful to America as slaves, all black people are ugly when they’re babies, and black girls put weave in their hair because they don’t have any. When I hear people talk like this all I can do is laugh at the ignorance, you have to be on a whole other level of stupid to even think like that and then to let that stupidity slip out of your mouth. People let statements like that get to them and get them all roweled up over it but, you have to sit back sometimes and think about where they get their point of view on African Americans people from. I find that a lot of it comes from the older generations in their family where the racism is still alive and brewing, and once again I laugh because it is 2013 and if you still feel African Americans should be slaves and they’re ignorant monkeys then go ahead and do you. We will write a custom essay sample on Short Talks or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As far as those other statements though I have a gap I know plenty of â€Å"black people† who don’t, my house doesn’t have roaches and never will, I wouldn’t be a good slave because I’m way too strong willed and I only work for pay, I was a beautiful baby, and plenty of African American girls have long beautiful hair. On Savannah State- â€Å"You are so rachet with your power outs, slow wifi, bad cable connection, rude faculty and staff, and rising tuition that’s mostly going to athletic fees for teams that aren’t even good. † -Anonymous I love my SSU but I hate it too, it has so much potential to be a great school but there has to be some major changes first. The first thing that the people over the school should take a good look into is the way a lot of their staff members act towards current and future students; some of them are rude and nasty every day to everybody. Next, they should move to the â€Å"problem professors†, which are the ones who the students complain the most about, they have the highest rate of students dropping out, and they have the highest failure rate. Lastly, would be what they use the budget for the school on I feel some of the funding for certain things could be used for more important things that the school needs, like a full time doctor for example. On Self-Respect- â€Å"How can you expect anybody to respect you if you’re half naked on Facebook for likes? † Girls are always crying on Facebook, twitter, instagram, and other social sites about how they want a â€Å"real man† but yet they have all of these lewd, distasteful pictures up for the whole internet to see. On top of that they get mad when they get a bunch of sexual comments and messages, it’s kind of baffling because what else would they expect to get if that’s how they present themselves. On the struggle- It’s hard being in college with no form of income coming in, eating ramen noodles every night, and borrowing paper from other students in class. Being broke makes your refund check, no matter how big or small, look like a little slice of heaven. Refund check time is when all of the ballers come out, when the mall is packed with college students going on a spending spree for themselves and for the homies who don’t get a refund, and when all the parties you go to have a bunch of alcohol and weed; but a month later it’s back to the struggle. The month after refund is when people go back to begging for things, back to one or two bottles of liquor at the party, and back to those stupid ramen noodles. On my first fight- I remember when I was a little, sweet, loving, only child living in Yonkers, NY. I got everything I wanted and I never had to share anything, unless I wanted to and I was always kind enough to do it anyway. My mother came home one day with these new glitter crayons for me, since I loved to draw and color; and I loved them. I brought them to school the next day to show my best friend and we colored with them during breakfast, before class. One of the older students saw us and came over, she took all of my friends crayons and pushed her out of her seat and proceeded to reach for mine. I grabbed my things, backed away and told her she couldn’t have my crayons. I saw a little bit of rage in her eyes as her friends laughed at her for not being able to take a kindergartener’s crayons; so she pushed me and went to take my things. I wanted to sit there and cry like my friend was doing but instead I got mad, I got real mad just thinking about the fact my mother just bought me some new â€Å"special† glitter crayons and some hood rat with no manners was going to have them for free wasn’t sitting right with me. I got up and punched her in the face and I could tell by the look in her eyes that it hurt, so I punched her again and again and again; I even started to scratch at her face. Her friends who were at first laughing saw how serious I was about those crayons and went to get the school’s officer, who eventually stopped me. I didn’t get in trouble that day but I got a newly found confidence that would lead me into trouble with anyone willing to cross the wrong path with me.

6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know

6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know 6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know 6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know By Daniel Scocco Whether you like it or not, foreign expressions represent an integral part of the English language (and of many other languages, too). Knowing the meaning and usage of the most used ones is very important. First of all because it will enable you to understand pieces of text that include them. Secondly, because you might also need to use those expressions on particular situations (avoid using them just to sound smart though). Below you will find 6 foreign expressions commonly used in English, enjoy! 1. De Facto De facto is a Latin expression that means â€Å"actual† (if used as an adjective) or â€Å"in practice† (if used as an adverb). In legal terms, de facto is commonly used in contrast to de jure, which means â€Å"by law.† Something, therefore, can emerge either de facto (by practice) or de jure (by law). And what of the plastic red bench, which has served as his de facto home for the last 15 years and must by now be a collectors item? (NY Times) 2. VisVis The literal meaning of this French expression is â€Å"face to face† (used as an adverb). It is used more widely as a preposition though, meaning â€Å"compared with† or â€Å"in relation to.† Its going to be a huge catalyst in moving the whole process forward and it really strengthens the U.S. position vis-a-vis our trading partners (Yahoo! News) 3. Status quo This famous Latin expression means the current or existing state of affairs. If something changes the status quo, it is changing the way things presently are. Bush believes that the status quo the presence in a sovereign country of a militant group with missiles capable of hitting a U.S. ally is unacceptable. (Washington Post) 4. Cul-de-sac This expression was originated in England by French-speaking aristocrats. Literally it means â€Å"bottom of a sack,† but generally it refers to a dead-end street. Cul-de-sac can also be used metaphorically to express an action that leads to nowhere or an impasse. But the code of omerta was in effect for two carloads of fans circling the cul-de-sac to have a look at the house. (Reuters.com) A cul-de-sac of poverty (The Economist) 5. Per se Per se is a Latin expression that means â€Å"by itself† or â€Å"intrinsically.† The mistake it made with the Xbox is that there is no game console market per se; there are PlayStation, GameCube, and Xbox markets. (PCMag.com) 6. Ad hoc Ad hoc, borrowed from the Latin, can be used both as an adjective, where it means â€Å"formed or created with a specific purpose,† and as an adverb, where it means â€Å"for the specific purpose or situation.† The World Banks board on Friday ordered an ad hoc group to discuss the fate of President Paul Wolfowitz (CNN) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Creative Writing 10150 Diminutive Suffixes (and a Cute Little Prefix)How Many Sentences in a Paragraph?

Economics in the wester civili essays

Economics in the wester civili essays At a very young age Samantha Ann Olivia had to endure hardships most people never have to experience. Most people grow up knowing their biological mother and father, but Samantha did not have this luxury. Born on September 14, 1982 she was given up for adoption almost immediately. At age two months she started her journey from South Colombia, of course too young at this point to realize the mental anguish to come in later years. After being put up for adoption Samantha (or Sam as she prefers to be called) was quickly accepted by a loving family consisting of two older brothers, and a caring mother and father in downtown Brooklyn, New York. Here, Sam resided until the age of four years. At four she moved with her family to Staten Island, New York. Her parents enrolled her in Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic school where she started elementary education. I have a lot of good memories from my younger years at school and hanging out around New Dorp, said Samantha. When I started getting older, around twelve, it had finally hit me that I was different than my family. I think I always knew but this is when I was able to talk about it with my parents. After asking her parents many questions, Sam was able to accept that these were not her biological parents, but they will always be her mother and father. At first it was a horrible thought. After crying a lot and thinking I was different from everyone, I realized no one has a perfect family and then it really didnt bother me much. Samantha came to realize that she had the same experiences, hopes, dreams and great memories as so many of her friends. Some of my greatest memories are of hanging out with my two older brothers, Sam said happily. When I was just four years old and with my brothers friends in Brooklyn. In the front of my house is a big black metal fence. My brothers friend was making fun of me and I ...

Challenges in Access Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Challenges in Access - Essay Example Uninsured individuals have difficulty in access to suitable health care. There are approximately 41-50 million uninsured individuals in the country. They are the low-income segment that represents the leading portion of those who lack insurance since they cannot afford to insure themselves. In addition, the numbers of underinsured middle-income persons is almost at a similar level. The leading portion of the populace that is deficient of health insurance is usually families of African Americans and Hispanics. Novel medical advancements promise improved services to all. However, the number of persons who lack health coverage is still high. For instance, uninsured individuals receive reduced health care as compared to those who are insured. As a consequence, the health of the uninsured individuals suffers significantly. Individuals who are uninsured are less probable to receive preventative, as well as screening services. In addition, these individuals have difficulties in receiving su itable care with regard to chronic ailments and vehicular accidents. This quandary of access has been aggravated by the escalating prices of health care. This has presented an urgent predicament particularly for the low-income part of the society. This increase has been due to an increasing number of individuals with health problems. As a result, the number of individuals who require medication, as well as those who are uninsured, is increasing. Varied employers also do away with their health insurance strategies since they cannot pay for the premiums (McGrath, 2012). Providing and improving coverage for this populace will rely on states embracing policies that foster elevated enrollment in Medicaid and novel insurance exchanges (Collins, 2012). This dilemma can also be resolved through the provision of Universal Health Care Structure and other federal services (Affordable Health Act, 2011). Provision of Medicaid, as well as novel insurance exchanges,

Civil Rights for Murderers with Intellectual Disability Essay

Civil Rights for Murderers with Intellectual Disability - Essay Example Intellectually disabled people start to have this problem at the age of around eighteen years and usually have an IQ of below 65. Therefore, it becomes challenging to determine the motive of the murder for such cases (Perske 470). Capital punishment can be exercised through various forms. For example in United States of America, a criminal can be killed by lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, gas or electrocution. There are several reasons for and against capital punishment. Some reasons for capital punishment are listed below. Firstly, it is the only punishment that can makes sure that justice is met for the person murdered. Since murder entails taking away the life of a person, then to have justice equally served for a murdered person is to have the guilt person sentenced to death (Blume, Johnson and Seeds 89) . Another purpose of capital punishment is that it offers relieve and closure for the family, relatives and close friends. It is always a human behavior to get satisfied when a murderer is killed too. This is most evidenced by angry mob that severally either beat the murderers to death or burn them alive. However if murderers are taken to court, people especially those close to the murdered person can only feel contented if the murderer is handed a death warrant. On top of that, another purpose of death warrant in our criminal justice system is to issue a warning to those people committing murder but most important to those who want to start it. Considering that everyone fears death, criminals will fear committing murder. The would-be criminals even when they want to rob, will try as much as possible not to kill anyone because of fear of capital punishment Therefore, death warrant serves as the best cautionary not only to murder cases but also all other crimes that can be committed (Strescino 57). Before execution of death penalty, the criminals spent many years in prison where they are secluded not only from

Research on Mental States of Non-Human Animals

Research on Mental States of Non-Human Animals To what extent does research support the claim that non-human animals, particular chimpanzees, have human-like understanding of mental states? In the last three decades, cognitive approaches to the study of animal behaviour have attracted increasing research attention. Much of this interest has concentrated on social cognition and whether animals understand the mental states of others in the same way humans do. In an attempt to address this question research has predominately focused on non-human primates (hereafter primates), especially chimpanzees. This popularity is probably owing to chimpanzees’ evolutionary relatedness to humans, which is the closest of all the primate species and therefore increases the likelihood that they might share human cognitive abilities. Human mental states are a suite of cognitive abilities which allow us to understand others’ psychological states. One example is theory of mind (ToM) which is the ability to understand that other individuals have beliefs and that such beliefs can be different from your own. This is illustrated by the ‘Smarties Test’ in which an individual is shown a tube of smarties and asked what they think is inside the tube, they correctly infer ‘smarties’ however when the tube is opened it is revealed that the tube contains only pencils. The individual is then asked what another naà ¯ve person would answer if given the same test. If the individual has a ToM they should understand that the naà ¯ve individual will have a false belief about the tube’s contents and therefore answer in the same way, i.e., smarties. Research shows that children under the age of 4 years have not fully developed a ToM and invariably fail the smarties test whereas children above t his age pass the test. Experiments conducted on primates have shown little evidence that they have a ToM. For example, Call and Tomasello (1999) tested chimpanzees, orangutans and children with a non-verbal false belief task. The task involved a series of finding games in which a reward was hidden in one of two identical containers by an adult (the hider), and another adult, who had witnessed the hiding process (the communicator), placed a token on the baited container which acted as a marker to indicate to the subject where the food was hidden. The subjects learnt to use the marker to locate the reward and ignore the marker when they knew it to be incorrect (during visible displacement trials). In the crucial false belief trials, the communicator watched the baiting of the container and then left the area and during the communicator’s absence the hider swapped the location of the containers. When the communicator returned she placed the marker on the container in the location she had seen the rewar d being hidden, which was incorrect, and therefore the communicator had a false belief about where the reward was hidden. To show an understanding of this belief the subjects would have to choose the container which the communicator did not place the marker on. The results showed that children chose the correct location of the reward demonstrating their understanding of the communicator’s false belief whereas none of the apes succeeded in choosing the correct location demonstrating their lack of false belief understanding. Other studies have also failed to find evidence of ToM in primates (for review see Povinelli 2004) and many now think that language is needed for the development of ToM which seems to have led researchers away from studying ToM in primates and other species of animals. Another mental state that has received much research attention is intentionally. Intentionally can be defined as understanding the behaviours of other as intentional, goal directed activities. The first study to address this issue was conducted by Premack and Woodruff (1978). They presented Sarah with videotaped sequences of a human actor in several problem-solving situations that were familiar to Sarah. For example, the actor was depicted looking up toward an out-of-reach banana hanging from the ceiling, or attempting to operate a hose that was unattached to a tap. After Sarah had viewed each problem, she was shown a pair of photographs, one of which depicted the solution to the problem. For instance, in the out-of-reach banana situation, the solution consisted of the actor moving a box under the banana. Overall, Sarah performed well on these tasks from the beginning but Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1978) pointed out that Sarah might have been choosing alternatives based on the simple ass ociations among objects formed from her experiences with caretakers and their behaviour with test items, such hoses and taps. Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1978) analysed each item Sarah was presented with and found that, overall, items for which such associative procedures were most straightforward were the ones on which Sarah performed best. In addition, Savage-Rumbaugh et al (1978) presented two language-trained chimpanzees with a matching-to-sample task in which the chimpanzees were shown, for example, a picture of a key and asked to select between pictures of a box and a padlock. Both chimpanzees performed well above chance in this task and selected the correct alternative in the majority of trials. These results therefore provided an alternative explanation to that of understanding of intention in others. Other research on chimpanzees’ understanding of intentions has produced mixed results. Povinelli et al (1998), for example, tested six chimpanzees who could choose to point to one of two caretakers to provide them with a cup of juice. However, prior to the choice the apes had experience of the caretakers’ behaviour in which one caretaker would accidentally drop the drink on the floor and the other would purposely empty the cup of juice on the floor. The authors reasoned that an understanding of the intentionally of the caretakers would result in the apes choosing the caretaker to provide them with juice who had previously acted with good intention but accidentally spilled the drink. The results showed that the apes made no preference for the ‘clumsy’ caretaker indicating that the apes were unable to understand the experimenters’ intentions. However, Call and Tomasello (2004) argue that there was no motivation to choose between the two caretakers beca use whomever they chose they would receive no juice. This possibility can be tested by repeating the experiment and allowing the caretakers to sometimes drop or purposely spill the drink on some trials but not on others. This would allow the apes to receive juice in some of the trials e.g., 50%, and therefore raise the apes’ motivation whilst maintaining the essence of the experiment. In contrast to the Povinelli et al’s (1998) study, Call et al (2004) found evidence that chimpanzees do show understanding of intentional behaviour in humans. The authors conducted an ‘unwilling’ and ‘unable’ test in which an experimenter would feed an ape a grape through a hole in the Plexiglas window. On some trials the ape would not receive the grape from the experimenter who in one condition would accidentally drop the grape and in a second condition would tease the ape by repeatedly pulling the grape back from the hole. When the apes’ behaviour was analysed it was found that they behaved differently in the two conditions. When the grapes were accidentally dropped the ape remained in the room longer than when the experimenter teased the ape. Moreover, during the teasing condition the apes often showed frustrated behaviour, such as spitting and punching the plexi-glass panel. The authors suggest this demonstrates the apes’ understandi ng of the experimenter’s intentions of being unable to give the grape in one condition and unwilling to give the grape in the other condition. However, it would be interesting to know exactly how the teasing behaviour was executed by the experimenter. For example, if the experimenter used loud vocalisations in the teasing condition but not in the clumsy condition it is possible the apes were just reacting to this rather than the experimenter’s intention. Knowing what others can see is another mental state humans possess and one that chimpanzees have shown evidence in possessing. For example, Hare et al (2001) used a competitive paradigm to test whether a subordinate chimpanzee would take into account how a dominant rival would behave depending if the rival had seen food being baited behind a barrier. The two chimpanzees faced each other across an ape enclosure which had one barrier in the middle of the enclosure. An experimenter hid one piece behind the barrier (on the subordinate’s side) and one piece in the open. In some conditions the dominant saw the reward being placed behind the barrier and in other conditions did not see the food being placed there. After the baiting procedure the subordinate and dominant were then allowed access to rewards. When the subordinate had observed that the dominant had not seen the food being hidden behind the barrier the subordinate would approach the food behind the barrier leaving the domi nant to retrieve the reward that was out in the open. However, when the dominant had seen the food placed behind the barrier the subordinate showed no preference for the food behind the barrier. In a follow-up study Hare et al (2001) extended these findings by repeating the experiment but in some conditions the dominant was switched (after seeing the food being hidden) with another dominant who had not seen the food being hidden. The results showed that the subordinate approached the reward placed behind the barrier more often when the dominant had been switched with the naà ¯ve dominant and the authors suggest that this demonstrates chimpanzees can predict who had seen what. In addition, a control condition ruled out the possibility that the subordinate was acting on simple rules such as preferring food lying close to the barriers. For example, when the opaque barrier was replaced by a transparent barrier, so that the dominant would see the reward even when he had not seen the foo d being placed there, the subordinate’s preference for the food behind the barrier disappeared. Although the above two studies seem to show that chimpanzees understand what others see, several researchers suggest that chimpanzees are using simpler mechanisms to solve the task. Karin-D’Arcy and Povinelli (2002), for example, argue that subordinate chimpanzees might simple prefer food that is next to barriers as this provides some safety from attack by the dominant. The authors repeated Hare et al’s 2002 study and found that subordinate chimpanzees preferred food next to the barrier even when both chimpanzees could see both pieces of food (the barrier was positioned vertically in relation to both chimpanzees). In addition, Povinelli and Vonk (2003) argue that even if the chimpanzees did not have a preference per se for the barriers in Hare et al’s 2002 studies the chimpanzees can understand which food the dominant will be likely to go for without evoking any mental states. For example, behavioural abstraction taken from previous experiences of similar interac tions can be used to predict the dominant’s behaviour. This can occur if the subordinate understands that when the dominant is facing the food the dominant will go towards that food, so use the rule ‘don not go for the food if the dominant is orientated toward the food’. Povinelli and Vonk (2003) further argue that experiments testing mental states in animals will only be of value if the possibility of behavioural abstraction is removed from the experimental equation. The authors therefore advocate that mental attribution can only be tested in chimpanzees and other animals by showing evidence of an individual extrapolating its own experiences to the mental states of others, a theory first put forward by Heyes (1998). Povinelli and Vonk (2003) suggest the following as a suitable experiment to address Heyes’ (1998) idea. First, allow an ape to interact with two buckets, one red and one black. The red bucket is placed over the ape’s head and the ape ca n clearly see its surroundings through the bucket, however when the black bucket is placed over the ape’s head he can see nothing. Now if the ape is confronted with two experimenters, one wearing the black bucket over her head and the other the red bucket over her head, and the ape begs for food only from the experimenter wearing the red bucket then it is likely that the ape is using mental attribution as the only experience the ape has had of the buckets is through its own experience. Povinelli and Vonk (2003) argue that experiments of this nature can provide evidence of mental states and rule out alternative interpretations such as behavioural abstractions. Conclusion The mental states of humans include a suite of cognitive functions which allow us to understand others’ knowledge and beliefs such as theory of mind and intentionally. Many argue that only humans have these types of mental states and other animals use lower cognitive functions based on learning and experience, such as behavioural abstractions. However, there is increasing evidence that other animals, especially chimpanzees, might also have human-like mental states, such as understanding intentions and understanding the relationship between seeing and knowing. One major caveat, however, is, to date, the most convincing research on chimpanzees’ mental states can not distinguish if the chimpanzees’ actions are based on human-like mental states or based on mechanisms not involving mental attribution such as behavioural abstractions. What is therefore needed is further research which can distinguish between these two possibilities and therefore increase our understand ing of the psychological abilities of chimpanzees and other animals. References Call, J., Tomasello, M.(1999) A nonverbal theory of mind test. The performance of children and apes. Child Development, 70, 381-395 Call, J., Hare, B., Carpenter, M., Tomasello (2004) Unwilling or unable: Chimapnzees’ understanding of human intentional action. Developmental Science, 7, 488-498 Hare,B., Call, J., Agnetta, B., Tomasello, M.(2000) Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see. Animal Behaviour, 59, 771-785. Hare,B., Call, J., Tomasello, M.(2001). Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know? Animal Behaviour, 61, 139-151. Heyes,CM (1998). Theory of mind in nonhuman primates. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 21, 101-148. Povinelli, D.J., Perilloux, H.K., Reaux, J.E. Bierschwale, D.T. (1998) Young and Juvenile chimpanzees reactions to intentional versus accidental and inadvertent actions. Behavioural Processes, 42, 205-218 Povinelli, D.J. (2004) Behind the ape’s appearance: escaping anthropocentrism in the study of other minds. Dadalus 29-41 Povinelli, D. J., Giambrone, S. (2001). Reasoning about beliefs: A human specialization? Child Development, 72, 691-695. Povinelli, D.J. Vonk, J. (2003) Chimpanzees minds: Suspiciously human? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 157-160. Povinelli, D.J. Vonk, J. (2004). We dont need a microscope to explore the chimpanzee mind. Mind and Language, 19, 1-28. Tomasello, M., Call, J., and Hare, B. (2003b). Chimpanzees understand psychological states- the question is which ones and to what extent. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 153-156. Savage-Rumbaugh, E.S., Rumbaugh, D.M., Boysen, S.T. (1978). Sarahs problems in comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 555-557.