Signs and symbols: association or differentiation? "Knowledge is
fostered by curiosity; wisdom is fostered by awe. Awe precedes
faith; it is the root of faith." Much of my own research on
nonhuman primates has been devoted to the problem of how the
brain makes possible signs and symbols. For many years I
questioned whether, in fact, nonhuman primates could construct
signs and symbols but my doubts have now been resolved by work
with two chimpanzees, one studied by the Gardners at the
University of Nevada  and one by Premack at the University of
California at Santa Barbara . The Nevada chimpanzee, named
Washoe (after the county in which Renois located), has been
taught to communicate using a sign language devised for the deaf
and dumb. Earlier attempts to set up a rich communicative system
between chimpanzee and man had failed. The Gardners felt that
this failure was due to the limitations of the chimpanzee vocal
apparatus and therefore decided to use a gestural system
instead. The system chosen, American Sign