Quote:
Originally Posted by TimMason
This kind of consideration has led some of them to conclude that *all* knowledge is, in fact, declarative, only the learner may have forgotten the specific declarations.
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Would that imply language use in a case like this? :
"There’s a very famous group of macaque monkeys in Japan on Koshima Island who, when provisioned by the scientists with sweet potatoes and also rice, one particular individual began to take the rice and the sweet potatoes and wash them in the water. We think that this accomplished two things. One is that it separated the sand very nicely from either the sweet potatoes or the rice. Perhaps it also made it more efficient to eat the rice because the rice would float on the surface of the water. But the second thing, perhaps, is that it provided some salt. The salt water maybe perhaps improved the flavor of the provisioned food.
We really don’t know why this particular animal did it, but what we know is, once she started, this behavior then was learned by her offspring, and now when you go to Koshima Island, every individual in the population does it."
http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript802.html