Exam question 4 · How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle…

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises sound practice in experiments upon animal cognition?

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 2 · wrong ✗ · What happens: follow, characteris · To what, where: sound practice, experiments

This is exam question 4 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	Which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	8 characterises	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	5 statements	case
3	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 statements	det
4	following	follow	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 statements	amod
5	statements	statement	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
6	most	most	ADV	Degree=Sup	7 accurately	advmod
7	accurately	accurately	ADV	_	8 characterises	advmod
8	characterises	characteris	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 practice	compound
10	practice	practice	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 characterises	obj
11	in	in	ADP	_	12 experiments	case
12	experiments	experiment	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 characterises	obl
13	upon	upon	ADP	_	15 cognition	case
14	animal	animal	NOUN	Number=Sing	15 cognition	compound
15	cognition	cognition	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 experiments	nmod
16	?	?	PUNCT	_	8 characterises	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	follow	gerund							vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	characteris	present		sound practice		experiments upon animal cognition		of the following statements; accurately property	tree rules

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

Animals should be compelled to participate

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 compelled	nsubj:pass
2	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	4 compelled	aux
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 compelled	aux:pass
4	compelled	compel	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
5	to	to	PART	_	6 participate	mark
6	participate	participate	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	4 compelled	xcomp

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	compel	should · passive		Animals					vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result
2	participate	to-infinitive							vn cooperate-73.1-2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent

Option 2 · ✓ the right answer

Results are repeated with many animals and in other laboratories, without harm

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Results	result	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 repeated	nsubj:pass
2	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	3 repeated	aux:pass
3	repeated	repeat	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	with	with	ADP	_	6 animals	case
5	many	many	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 animals	amod
6	animals	animal	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 repeated	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	10 laboratories	cc
8	in	in	ADP	_	10 laboratories	case
9	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	10 laboratories	amod
10	laboratories	laboratory	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 animals	conj
11	,	,	PUNCT	_	13 harm	punct
12	without	without	ADP	_	13 harm	case
13	harm	harm	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 repeated	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	repeat	present · passive		Results				with many animals and other laboratories; without harm	vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.subeventuality»: subject=Eventuality with animal=Subeventuality

Option 3

A single remarkable individual suffices to establish a conclusion beyond any doubt

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 individual	det
2	single	single	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 individual	amod
3	remarkable	remarkable	ADJ	Degree=Pos	4 individual	amod
4	individual	individual	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 suffices	nsubj
5	suffices	suffice	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
6	to	to	PART	_	7 establish	mark
7	establish	establish	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 suffices	xcomp
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 conclusion	det
9	conclusion	conclusion	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 establish	obj
10	beyond	beyond	ADP	_	12 doubt	case
11	any	any	DET	PronType=Ind	12 doubt	det
12	doubt	doubt	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 establish	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	suffice	present	a single remarkable individual						tree rules
2	establish	to-infinitive	a single remarkable individual not said here	a conclusion				beyond any doubt	vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent conclusion=Patient

Option 4

The tester should invariably know and display the answer

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 tester	det
2	tester	tester	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 know	nsubj
3	should	should	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	5 know	aux
4	invariably	invariably	ADV	_	5 know	advmod
5	know	know	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	and	and	CCONJ	_	7 display	cc
7	display	display	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 know	conj
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 answer	det
9	answer	answer	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 display	obj

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	know	should	the tester					invariably property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
2	display	infinitive	the tester not said here	the answer					vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Theme

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/e4/