Francine Patterson
Penny Patterson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Francine Patterson February 13, 1947 |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (B.A., 1970) Stanford University (Ph.D., 1979) |
| Parent | C. H. Patterson |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | President and Research Director of The Gorilla Foundation |
Francine "Penny" Patterson (born February 13, 1947) is an American animal psychologist. From 1972 onwards, she taught a modified form of American Sign Language, which she called "Gorilla Sign Language" (GSL), to a gorilla named Koko. The scientific validity of Patterson's claims about the extent of Koko's language mastery has been widely rejected in linguistic and other specialist circles.