Exam question 1 · How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle…
Identify the principal flaw disclosed in the celebrated case of the horse Clever Hans.
Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: identify, disclose, celebrate · To what, where: principal flaw, celebrated case
This is exam question 1 of lesson 389 «How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle boxes and Clever Hans» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.
The question
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Identify | identify | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 flaw | det |
| 3 | principal | principal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 flaw | amod |
| 4 | flaw | flaw | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Identify | obj |
| 5 | disclosed | disclose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 flaw | acl |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 9 case | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 case | det |
| 8 | celebrated | celebrate | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 case | amod |
| 9 | case | case | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 disclosed | obl |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 horse | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 horse | det |
| 12 | horse | horse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 case | nmod |
| 13 | Clever | Clever | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 horse | appos |
| 14 | Hans | Hans | PROPN | Number=Sing | 13 Clever | flat |
| 15 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 1 Identify | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | identify | imperative | you not said here | the principal flaw | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent flaw=Theme | ||||
| 2 | disclose | participle | the principal flaw not said here | the celebrated case of the horse | vn indicate-78-1-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Pivot | ||||
| 3 | celebrate | participle | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.
The options
Option 1 · ← Mova's choice
The questions were posed in a foreign language which the horse did not know
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 questions | det |
| 2 | questions | question | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 posed | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 posed | aux:pass |
| 4 | posed | pose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 language | case |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 language | det |
| 7 | foreign | foreign | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 language | amod |
| 8 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 posed | obl |
| 9 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 14 know | obj |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 horse | det |
| 11 | horse | horse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 know | nsubj |
| 12 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 know | aux |
| 13 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 14 know | advmod |
| 14 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 language | acl:relcl |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pose | past · passive | the questions | a foreign language | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute | ||||
| 2 | not know | past · do-support | the horse | a foreign language | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
Option 2 · ✓ the right answer
The animal responded to involuntary cues from the persons present
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 animal | det |
| 2 | animal | animal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 present | nsubj |
| 3 | responded | respond | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 animal | acl |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 6 cues | case |
| 5 | involuntary | involuntary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 cues | amod |
| 6 | cues | cue | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 responded | obl |
| 7 | from | from | ADP | _ | 9 persons | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 persons | det |
| 9 | persons | person | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 cues | nmod |
| 10 | present | present | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | respond speech: other | participle | the animal not said here | to involuntary cues from the persons | vn respond-113 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to cue=Theme | ||||
| 2 | present | present | the animal | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
Option 3
The horse was unable to hear the questions
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 horse | det |
| 2 | horse | horse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 unable | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 unable | cop |
| 4 | unable | unable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 hear | mark |
| 6 | hear | hear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 unable | xcomp |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 questions | det |
| 8 | questions | question | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 hear | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the horse | unable property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | hear | to-infinitive | the horse not said here | the questions | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer question=Stimulus |
Option 4
The horse was in fact a different animal
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 horse | det |
| 2 | horse | horse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 fact | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 fact | cop |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 fact | case |
| 5 | fact | fact | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 animal | det |
| 7 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 animal | amod |
| 8 | animal | animal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 fact | appos |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the horse | fact | tree rules |
Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/389-how-scientists-test-animal-minds-the-mirror-test-puzzle-boxes-and-clever-hans/e1/