Test 8 · ★★★ · How scientists test animal minds: the mirror test, puzzle…
What would happen if a scientist always smiled when the animal got near the right answer?
Mova's choice: option 2 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: scientist, animal · What happens: happen, smile, get · To what, where: right answer
This is test 8 · ★★★ 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. 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 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 happen | nsubj |
| 2 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 3 happen | aux |
| 3 | happen | happen | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 4 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 8 smiled | mark |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 scientist | det |
| 6 | scientist | scientist | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 smiled | nsubj |
| 7 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 8 smiled | advmod |
| 8 | smiled | smile | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 happen | advcl |
| 9 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 12 got | advmod |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 animal | det |
| 11 | animal | animal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 got | nsubj |
| 12 | got | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 smiled | advcl |
| 13 | near | near | ADP | _ | 16 answer | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 answer | det |
| 15 | right | right | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 answer | amod |
| 16 | answer | answer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 got | obl |
| 17 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 3 happen | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | happen | would | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 2 | smile a condition, not said to happen | past | a scientist | always property | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | get | past | the animal | the right answer | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
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
The scientist would get the answer wrong
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 scientist | det |
| 2 | scientist | scientist | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 get | nsubj |
| 3 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 get | aux |
| 4 | get | get | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 answer | det |
| 6 | answer | answer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 get | obj |
| 7 | wrong | wrong | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 get | xcomp |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | would | the scientist | the answer | wrong property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer answer=Stimulus |
Option 2 · ← Mova's choice
The animal would solve it better for real, because it would feel happy and calm
The tree, 15 words
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 | 4 solve | nsubj |
| 3 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 solve | aux |
| 4 | solve | solve | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 solve | obj |
| 6 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 4 solve | xcomp |
| 7 | for | for | ADP | _ | 8 real | case |
| 8 | real | real | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 better | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 feel | punct |
| 10 | because | because | SCONJ | _ | 13 feel | mark |
| 11 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 13 feel | nsubj |
| 12 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 13 feel | aux |
| 13 | feel | feel | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 solve | conj |
| 14 | happy | happy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 feel | xcomp |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 calm | cc |
| 16 | calm | calm | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 happy | conj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | solve | would | the animal | it | good property | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | |||
| 2 | feel | would | animal | happy property | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
Option 3
Nothing, animals never notice faces
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 3 animals | compound |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Nothing | punct |
| 3 | animals | animal | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 notice | nsubj |
| 4 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 5 notice | advmod |
| 5 | notice | notice | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | faces | face | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 notice | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not notice | present | Nothing animals | faces | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer face=Stimulus |
Option 4 · ✓ the right answer
The animal might learn to read the smile, not solve the task
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 | 4 learn | nsubj |
| 3 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 learn | aux |
| 4 | learn | learn | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 read | mark |
| 6 | read | read | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 learn | xcomp |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 smile | det |
| 8 | smile | smile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 read | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 solve | punct |
| 10 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 11 solve | advmod |
| 11 | solve | solve | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 learn | conj |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 task | det |
| 13 | task | task | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 solve | obj |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | learn | might | the animal | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | read | to-infinitive | the animal not said here | the smile | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent smile=Topic | ||||
| 3 | not solve | infinitive | the animal not said here | the task | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Topic |
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/t8/