Doubting research on animal self-awareness: a TOEFL integrated essay

To practice writing a TOEFL integrated essay, students are given three minutes to read a short passage, after which they listen to a lecture related to the topic they just read about. They are then given 20 minutes to outline, write, and edit their essays. This particular exercise is from page 391 of "Delta's Key to the TOEFL iBT" preparation course book.

WRITING TASK: Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on specific points made in the reading passage.

ESSAY:
The reading passage discusses the idea that chimpanzees have the ability for self-awareness by mentioning an experiment and its positive results. The lecture, on the other hand, casts doubt on this experiment and questions the validity of its results.

The reading explains how scientists used the "mark test" to determine that chimpanzees experience self-awareness. During this test, chimpanzees were allowed to get used to the presence of a mirror and play with it. The animals were then given sleeping pills, and one eyebrow and one ear were marked red while they were unconscious. The chimpanzees were then observed with and without the mirror after they woke up, and scientists recorded how they behaved in both situations. The results of the experiment showed that the animals touched their heads and faces significantly more when the mirror was in the room. In addition, the animals seemed to notice the red spots on their bodies, sniffing and examining their fingers after touching the spots. Furthermore, the animals groomed themselves and made faces in front of the mirror, which made scientists conclude that the chimpanzees were able to be aware of their image in the mirror.

The lecture, on the other hand, questioned the results of the above experiment. First, the professor mentions that the results were inconsistent since in one test, only one chimpanzee touched the red marks. This differed from the other times when most of the chimpanzees showed awareness of the marks on their eyebrows and ears. Second, the lecture says that chimpanzees routinely touch parts of their body and, therefore, can't be interpreted as being aware of their image in the mirror. In fact, one chimpanzee rubbed the marks off even before he saw himself in the mirror. Third, the lecture mentions that chimpanzees are known to groom themselves around each other. Grooming is a social activity among their species when they are in each other's presence. Grooming themselves in front of a mirror, therefore, doesn't necessarily mean that they recognize themselves. It may simply be a social response upon seeing another chimpanzee in the room.

-- written by Joe Yu, ESL instructor, during a writing activity in class