Editing Fast mapping (section)

== Evidence of fast mapping in other animals ==
It appears that fast mapping is not only limited to humans, but can occur in dogs as well.

The first example of fast mapping in dogs was published in 2004. In it, a dog named Rico was able to learn the labels of over 200 various items. He was also able to identify novel objects simply by exclusion learning. Exclusion learning occurs when one learns the name of a novel object because one is already familiar with the names of other objects belonging to the same group. The researchers, who conducted the experiment, mention the possibility that a language acquisition device specific to humans does not control fast mapping.  They believe that fast mapping is possibly directed by simple memory mechanisms.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kaminski | first1 = J | last2 = Call | first2 = J | last3 = Fischer | first3 = J | s2cid = 31901162 | year = 2004 | title = Word Learning in a Domestic Dog: Evidence for "Fast Mapping | journal = Science | volume = 304 | issue = 5677| pages = 1682–1683 | doi=10.1126/science.1097859 | pmid=15192233| bibcode = 2004Sci...304.1682K }}</ref>

In 2010, a second example was published. This time, a dog named [[Chaser (dog)|Chaser]] demonstrated, in a controlled research environment, that she had learned over 1000 object names. She also demonstrated that she could attribute these objects to named categories through fast mapping inferential reasoning.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pilley|first1=John W.|last2=Reid|first2=Alliston K.|date=February 2011|title=Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents|journal=Behavioural Processes|volume=86|issue=2|pages=184–195|doi=10.1016/j.beproc.2010.11.007|pmid=21145379|s2cid=18753940}}</ref> It's important to note that, at the time of publication, Chaser was still learning object names at the same pace as before. Thus, her 1000 words, or [[Lexical semantics|lexicals]], should not be regarded as an upper limit, but a benchmark. While there are many components of language that were not demonstrated in this study, the 1000 word benchmark is remarkable because many studies on language learning correlate a 1000 lexical vocabulary with, roughly, 75% spoken language comprehension.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=SCHMITT|first1=NORBERT|last2=JIANG|first2=XIANGYING|last3=GRABE|first3=WILLIAM|s2cid=144661890|date=2011-02-24|title=The Percentage of Words Known in a Text and Reading Comprehension|journal=The Modern Language Journal|volume=95|issue=1|pages=26–43|doi=10.1111/j.1540-4781.2011.01146.x|issn=0026-7902}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Marslen-Wilson|first1=William|last2=Brown|first2=Colin M.|last3=Tyler|first3=Lorraine Komisarjevsky|s2cid=62153791|date=January 1988|title=Lexical representations in spoken language comprehension|journal=Language and Cognitive Processes|volume=3|issue=1|pages=1–16|doi=10.1080/01690968808402079|issn=0169-0965}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Jumping from the highest graded readers to ungraded novels: four case studies|last=Uden, Jez Schmitt, Diane Schmitt, Norbert|publisher=University of Hawaii|oclc=945720210}}</ref>

Another study on Chaser was published in 2013. In this study, Chaser demonstrated flexible understanding of simple sentences. In these sentences, [[syntax]] was altered in various contexts to prove she had not just memorized full phrases or inferred the expectation through gestures from her evaluators.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Pilley|first=John W.|date=November 2013|title=Border collie comprehends sentences containing a prepositional object, verb, and direct object|journal=Learning and Motivation|volume=44|issue=4|pages=229–240|doi=10.1016/j.lmot.2013.02.003|issn=0023-9690}}</ref> Discovering this skill in a dog is noteworthy on its own, but verb meaning can be fast mapped through syntax.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Meaning from syntax: Evidence from 2-year-olds|journal=Cognition|volume=114|issue=3|pages=442–446|doi=10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.015|pmc=2823963|pmid=19945696|year=2010|last1=Arunachalam|first1=Sudha|last2=Waxman|first2=Sandra R.}}</ref> This creates questions about what [[Part of speech|parts of speech]] dogs could infer, as previous studies focused on nouns. These findings create further questions about the fast mapping abilities of dogs when viewed in light of a study published in [[Science (journal)|Science]] in 2016 that proved dogs process [[Lexical semantics|lexical]] and [[Intonation (linguistics)|intonational]] cues separately.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Andics|first1=A.|last2=Gábor|first2=A.|last3=Gácsi|first3=M.|last4=Faragó|first4=T.|last5=Szabó|first5=D.|last6=Miklósi|first6=Á.|date=2016-09-02|title=Neural mechanisms for lexical processing in dogs|journal=Science|volume=353|issue=6303|pages=1030–1032|doi=10.1126/science.aaf3777|pmid=27576923|issn=0036-8075|bibcode=2016Sci...353.1030A|s2cid=21422421}}</ref> That is, they respond to both tone and word meaning.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/dogs-process-language-like-us-but-what-do-they-understand/|title=Dogs Process Language Like Us, but What Do They Understand?|last=Hecht|first=Julie|date=August 30, 2016|website=Scientific American|access-date=May 16, 2019}}</ref>

However, excitement about the fast-mapping skills of dogs should be tempered. Research in humans has found fast-mapping abilities and vocabulary size are not correlated in unenriched environments. Research has determined that language exposure alone is not enough to develop vocabulary through fast-mapping. Instead, the learner needs to be an active participant in communications to convert fast-mapping abilities into vocabulary.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />

It is not commonplace to communicate with dogs, nor any non-primate animal, in a productive fashion as they are non-verbal.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Rossi | first1=Alexandre Pongrácz | last2=Ades | first2=César | title=A dog at the keyboard: using arbitrary signs to communicate requests | journal=Animal Cognition | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=11 | issue=2 | date=2007-11-14 | issn=1435-9448 | doi=10.1007/s10071-007-0122-3 | pages=329–338| pmid=18000692 | s2cid=25849142 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Mejdell | first1=Cecilie M. | last2=Buvik | first2=Turid | last3=Jørgensen | first3=Grete H.M. | last4=Bøe | first4=Knut E. | title=Horses can learn to use symbols to communicate their preferences | journal=Applied Animal Behaviour Science | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=184 | year=2016 | issn=0168-1591 | doi=10.1016/j.applanim.2016.07.014 | pages=66–73| doi-access=free }}</ref> As such, Chaser's vocabulary and sentence comprehension is attributed to  [[John W. Pilley|Dr. Pilley]]'s rigorous methodology.<ref name=":3" />