Exam question 2 · How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle…

Ascertain the reason for which the mirror test may be deemed unsuited to the assessment of dogs.

Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: ascertain, deem, unsuit, assess · To what, where: reason, mirror test, dogs

This is exam question 2 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	Ascertain	ascertain	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 reason	det
3	reason	reason	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Ascertain	obj
4	for	for	ADP	_	5 which	case
5	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	11 deemed	obl
6	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	8 test	det
7	mirror	mirror	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 test	compound
8	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 deemed	nsubj:pass
9	may	may	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	11 deemed	aux
10	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	11 deemed	aux:pass
11	deemed	deem	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 reason	acl:relcl
12	unsuited	unsuit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	11 deemed	xcomp
13	to	to	ADP	_	15 assessment	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 assessment	det
15	assessment	assessment	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 unsuited	obl
16	of	of	ADP	_	17 dogs	case
17	dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	15 assessment	nmod
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Ascertain	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	ascertain	imperative	you not said here	the reason		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Topic
2	deem	may · passive		the mirror test	for the reason	tree rules
3	unsuit	participle			to the assessment of dogs	tree rules
4	assess			dogs		nom assessment «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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

Dogs are incapable of sight

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 incapable	nsubj
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 incapable	cop
3	incapable	incapable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 sight	case
5	sight	sight	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 incapable	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	Dogs					of sight; incapable property	tree rules

Option 2 · ← Mova's choice

Dogs invariably pass all tests

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pass	nsubj
2	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	3 pass	advmod
3	pass	pass	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	all	all	DET	PronType=Tot	5 tests	det
5	tests	test	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 pass	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	pass	present	Dogs	all tests				invariably property	vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme test=Trajectory

Option 3

Dogs are prohibited from laboratories by law in most countries of Europe

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dogs	dog	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 prohibited	aux:pass
3	prohibited	prohibit	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	from	from	ADP	_	5 laboratories	case
5	laboratories	laboratory	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	obl
6	by	by	ADP	_	7 law	case
7	law	law	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 prohibited	obl
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 countries	case
9	most	most	ADJ	Degree=Sup	10 countries	amod
10	countries	country	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 prohibited	obl
11	of	of	ADP	_	12 Europe	case
12	Europe	Europe	PROPN	Number=Sing	10 countries	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	prohibit	present · passive	law	Dogs		laboratories		in most countries of Europe	vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Causer subject=Beneficiary from laboratory=Eventuality

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

The species perceives the world principally by the sense of smell

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 species	det
2	species	species	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 perceives	nsubj
3	perceives	perceive	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 world	det
5	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceives	obj
6	principally	principally	ADV	_	3 perceives	advmod
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 sense	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 sense	det
9	sense	sense	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 perceives	obl
10	of	of	ADP	_	11 smell	case
11	smell	smell	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 sense	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	perceive	present	the species	the world				by the sense of smell; principally property	vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer world=Stimulus
2	sense			smell					nom sense «cognition transitive»: of=patient

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/e2/