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Kirschhock ME, Nieder A. Numerical Representation for Action in Crows Obeys the Weber-Fechner Law. Psychol Sci 2023; 34:1322-1335. [PMID: 37883792 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231201624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The psychophysical laws governing the judgment of perceived numbers of objects or events, called the number sense, have been studied in detail. However, the behavioral principles of equally important numerical representations for action are largely unexplored in both humans and animals. We trained two male carrion crows (Corvus corone) to judge numerical values of instruction stimuli from one to five and to flexibly perform a matching number of pecks. Our quantitative analysis of the crows' number production performance shows the same behavioral regularities that have previously been demonstrated for the judgment of sensory numerosity, such as the numerical distance effect, the numerical magnitude effect, and the logarithmical compression of the number line. The presence of these psychophysical phenomena in crows producing number of pecks suggests a unified sensorimotor number representation system underlying the judgment of the number of external stimuli and internally generated actions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andreas Nieder
- Animal Physiology Unit, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen
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2
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Gazes RP, Templer VL, Lazareva OF. Thinking about order: a review of common processing of magnitude and learned orders in animals. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:299-317. [PMID: 36369418 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01713-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Rich behavioral and neurobiological evidence suggests cognitive and neural overlap in how quantitatively comparable dimensions such as quantity, time, and space are processed in humans and animals. While magnitude domains such as physical magnitude, time, and space represent information that can be quantitatively compared (4 "is half of" 8), they also represent information that can be organized ordinally (1→2→3→4). Recent evidence suggests that the common representations seen across physical magnitude, time, and space domains in humans may be due to their common ordinal features rather than their common quantitative features, as these common representations appear to extend beyond magnitude domains to include learned orders. In this review, we bring together separate lines of research on multiple ordinal domains including magnitude-based and learned orders in animals to explore the extent to which there is support for a common cognitive process underlying ordinal processing. Animals show similarities in performance patterns across natural quantitatively comparable ordered domains (physical magnitude, time, space, dominance) and learned orders (acquired through transitive inference or simultaneous chaining). Additionally, they show transfer and interference across tasks within and between ordinal domains that support the theory of a common ordinal representation across domains. This review provides some support for the development of a unified theory of ordinality and suggests areas for future research to better characterize the extent to which there are commonalities in cognitive processing of ordinal information generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Regina Paxton Gazes
- Department of Psychology and Program in Animal Behavior, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, USA.
| | | | - Olga F Lazareva
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Drake University, Des Moines, IA, USA
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3
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Bryer MAH, Koopman SE, Cantlon JF, Piantadosi ST, MacLean EL, Baker JM, Beran MJ, Jones SM, Jordan KE, Mahamane S, Nieder A, Perdue BM, Range F, Stevens JR, Tomonaga M, Ujfalussy DJ, Vonk J. The evolution of quantitative sensitivity. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200529. [PMID: 34957840 PMCID: PMC8710878 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to represent approximate quantities appears to be phylogenetically widespread, but the selective pressures and proximate mechanisms favouring this ability remain unknown. We analysed quantity discrimination data from 672 subjects across 33 bird and mammal species, using a novel Bayesian model that combined phylogenetic regression with a model of number psychophysics and random effect components. This allowed us to combine data from 49 studies and calculate the Weber fraction (a measure of quantity representation precision) for each species. We then examined which cognitive, socioecological and biological factors were related to variance in Weber fraction. We found contributions of phylogeny to quantity discrimination performance across taxa. Of the neural, socioecological and general cognitive factors we tested, cortical neuron density and domain-general cognition were the strongest predictors of Weber fraction, controlling for phylogeny. Our study is a new demonstration of evolutionary constraints on cognition, as well as of a relation between species-specific neuron density and a particular cognitive ability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret A H Bryer
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Sarah E Koopman
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9AJ, UK
| | - Jessica F Cantlon
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Steven T Piantadosi
- Department of Psychology, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Evan L MacLean
- School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.,College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
| | - Joseph M Baker
- Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Michael J Beran
- Department of Psychology and Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA
| | - Sarah M Jones
- Psychology Program, Berea College, Berea, KY 40403, USA
| | - Kerry E Jordan
- Department of Psychology, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
| | - Salif Mahamane
- Behavioral and Social Sciences Department, Western Colorado University, Gunnison, CO 81231, USA
| | - Andreas Nieder
- Animal Physiology Unit, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany
| | - Bonnie M Perdue
- Department of Psychology, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA 30030, USA
| | - Friederike Range
- Domestication Lab, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Savoyenstrasse 1a, Vienna 1160, Austria
| | - Jeffrey R Stevens
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA
| | | | - Dorottya J Ujfalussy
- MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE), Budapest 1117, Hungary.,Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE), Budapest 1117, Hungary
| | - Jennifer Vonk
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309, USA
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4
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Hofstetter S, Dumoulin SO. Tuned neural responses to haptic numerosity in the putamen. Neuroimage 2021; 238:118178. [PMID: 34020014 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 05/15/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to perceive the numerosity of items in the environment is critical for behavior of species across the evolutionary tree. Though the focus of studies of numerosity perception lays on the parietal and frontal cortices, the ability to perceive numerosity by a range of species suggests that subcortical nuclei may be implicated in the process. Recently, we have uncovered tuned neural responses to haptic numerosity in the human cortex. Here, we questioned whether subcortical nuclei are also engaged in perception of haptic numerosity. To that end, we utilized a task of haptic numerosity exploration, together with population receptive field model of numerosity selective responses measured at ultra-high field MRI (7T). We found tuned neural responses to haptic numerosity in the bilateral putamen. Similar to the cortex, the population receptive fields tuning width increased with numerosity. The tuned responses to numerosity in the putamen extend its role in cognition and propose that the motor-sensory loops of the putamen and basal ganglia might take an active part in numerosity perception and preparation for future action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shir Hofstetter
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, Amsterdam 1105 BK, the Netherlands.
| | - Serge O Dumoulin
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, Amsterdam 1105 BK, the Netherlands; Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1181 BT, the Netherlands; Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CS, the Netherlands
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5
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Nieder A. The Adaptive Value of Numerical Competence. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:605-617. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.02.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Revised: 02/08/2020] [Accepted: 02/14/2020] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
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6
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Jin S, Liu H, Wang B, Sun F. Open-Environment Robotic Acoustic Perception for Object Recognition. Front Neurorobot 2019; 13:96. [PMID: 31824277 PMCID: PMC6883290 DOI: 10.3389/fnbot.2019.00096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2019] [Accepted: 11/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Object recognition in containers is extremely difficult for robots. Dynamic audio signals are more responsive to an object's internal property. Therefore, we adopt the dynamic contact method to collect acoustic signals in the container and recognize objects in containers. Traditional machine learning is to recognize objects in a closed environment, which is not in line with practical applications. In real life, exploring objects is dynamically changing, so it is necessary to develop methods that can recognize all classes of objects in an open environment. A framework for recognizing objects in containers using acoustic signals in an open environment is proposed, and then the kernel k nearest neighbor algorithm in an open environment (OSKKNN) is set. An acoustic dataset is collected, and the feasibility of the method is verified on the dataset, which greatly promotes the recognition of objects in an open environment. And it also proves that the use of acoustic to recognize objects in containers has good value.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaowei Jin
- State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligence of Electrical Equipment, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China.,Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Field and Electrical Apparatus Reliability of Hebei Province, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China
| | - Huaping Liu
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Bowen Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Reliability and Intelligence of Electrical Equipment, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China.,Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Field and Electrical Apparatus Reliability of Hebei Province, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, China
| | - Fuchun Sun
- Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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7
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Abstract
Animals often face situations that require making decisions based on quantity. Many species, including humans, rely on an ability to differentiate between more and less to make judgments about social relationships, territories, and food. Habitat-related choices require animals to decide between areas with greater and lesser quantities of food while also weighing relative risk of danger based on group size and predation risk. Such decisions can have a significant impact on survival for an animal and its social group. Many species have demonstrated a capacity for differentiating between two quantities of food and choosing the greater of the two, but they have done so based on information provided primarily in the visual domain. Using an object-choice task, we demonstrate that elephants are able to discriminate between two distinct quantities using their olfactory sense alone. We presented the elephants with choices between two containers of sunflower seeds. The relationship between the amount of seeds within the two containers was represented by 11 different ratios. Overall, the elephants chose the larger quantity of food by smelling for it. The elephants' performance was better when the relative difference between the quantities increased and worse when the ratio between the quantities of food increased, but was not affected by the overall quantity of food presented. These results are consistent with the performance of animals tested in the visual domain. This work has implications for the design of future, cross-phylogenetic cognitive comparisons that ought to account for differences in how animals sense their world.
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8
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Cox L, Montrose VT. Quantity Discrimination in Domestic Rats, Rattus norvegicus. Animals (Basel) 2016; 6:ani6080046. [PMID: 27527223 PMCID: PMC4997271 DOI: 10.3390/ani6080046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2016] [Revised: 07/26/2016] [Accepted: 08/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Quantity discrimination involves distinguishing which of two quantities is greater. This discrimination between larger and smaller quantities has only been demonstrated in rats post extensive training. We tested whether domestic rats could perform quantity discrimination without explicit training. We found that rats could distinguish the greater amount in comparisons of 1 vs. 2, 2 vs. 3, 3 vs. 5, 3 vs. 8, 4 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 8. Rats could not distinguish between 3 vs. 4, 4 vs. 5 and 5 vs. 6. We also found that as the ratio between quantities became finer the choice of the larger quantity decreased. We conclude that rats can perform quantity discrimination without extensive training and that their quantity discrimination ability is influenced by the ratio between quantities. Abstract Quantity discrimination is a basic form of numerical competence where an animal distinguishes which of two amounts is greater in size. Whilst quantity discrimination in rats has been investigated via training paradigms, rats’ natural quantity discrimination abilities without explicit training for a desired response have not been explored. This study investigated domestic rats’ ability to perform quantity discrimination. Domestic rats (n = 12) were examined for their ability to distinguish the larger amount under nine quantity comparisons. One-sample t-tests identified a significant preference for the larger quantity in comparisons of 1 vs. 2, 2 vs. 3, 3 vs. 5, 3 vs. 8, 4 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 8. No preference between quantities was found for comparisons of 3 vs. 4, 4 vs. 5 and 5 vs. 6. Overall, this study drew two key conclusions. Firstly, that domestic rats are capable of performing quantity discrimination without extensive training. Secondly, as subjects adhered to Weber’s law, it was concluded that the approximate number system underpins domestic rats’ ability to perform spontaneous quantity discrimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Cox
- Animal Behavior and Welfare Research Group, Department of Animal and Land Sciences, Hartpury University Centre, Hartpury, Gloucestershire GL19 3BE, UK.
| | - V Tamara Montrose
- Animal Behavior and Welfare Research Group, Department of Animal and Land Sciences, Hartpury University Centre, Hartpury, Gloucestershire GL19 3BE, UK.
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9
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Kelly EM. Counting on your friends: The role of social environment on quantity discrimination. Behav Processes 2016; 128:9-16. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.03.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2016] [Revised: 03/28/2016] [Accepted: 03/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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10
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Abstract
Humans and non-human primates share an elemental quantification system that resides in a dedicated neural network in the parietal and frontal lobes. In this cortical network, 'number neurons' encode the number of elements in a set, its cardinality or numerosity, irrespective of stimulus appearance across sensory motor systems, and from both spatial and temporal presentation arrays. After numbers have been extracted from sensory input, they need to be processed to support goal-directed behaviour. Studying number neurons provides insights into how information is maintained in working memory and transformed in tasks that require rule-based decisions. Beyond an understanding of how cardinal numbers are encoded, number processing provides a window into the neuronal mechanisms of high-level brain functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Nieder
- Animal Physiology Unit, Institute of Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
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11
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Ramirez-Cardenas A, Moskaleva M, Nieder A. Neuronal Representation of Numerosity Zero in the Primate Parieto-Frontal Number Network. Curr Biol 2016; 26:1285-94. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2015] [Revised: 03/10/2016] [Accepted: 03/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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12
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Overmann KA. Numerosity Structures the Expression of Quantity in Lexical Numbers and Grammatical Number. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1086/683092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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13
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Trading up: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) show self-control through their exchange behavior. Anim Cogn 2015; 19:109-21. [PMID: 26325355 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-015-0916-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2015] [Revised: 08/13/2015] [Accepted: 08/14/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Self-control is defined as the ability or capacity to obtain an objectively more valuable outcome rather than an objectively less valuable outcome though tolerating a longer delay or a greater effort requirement (or both) in obtaining that more valuable outcome. A number of tests have been devised to assess self-control in non-human animals, including exchange tasks. In this study, three chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) participated in a delay of gratification task that required food exchange as the behavioral response that reflected self-control. The chimpanzees were offered opportunities to inhibit eating and instead exchange a currently possessed food item for a different (and sometimes better) item, often needing to exchange several food items before obtaining the highest valued reward. We manipulated reward type, reward size, reward visibility, delay to exchange, and location of the highest valued reward in the sequence of exchange events to compare performance within the same individuals. The chimpanzees successfully traded until obtaining the best item in most cases, although there were individual differences among participants in some variations of the test. These results support the idea that self-control is robust in chimpanzees even in contexts in which they perhaps anticipate future rewards and sustain delay of gratification until they can obtain the ultimately most valuable item.
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14
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Miletto Petrazzini M, Agrillo C. Turning to the larger shoal: are there individual differences in small- and large-quantity discrimination of guppies? ETHOL ECOL EVOL 2015. [DOI: 10.1080/03949370.2015.1029011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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15
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Beran MJ, Heimbauer LA. A longitudinal assessment of vocabulary retention in symbol-competent chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). PLoS One 2015; 10:e0118408. [PMID: 25706561 PMCID: PMC4338080 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2014] [Accepted: 01/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
A number of studies from the 1960s to 1990s assessed the symbolic competence of great apes and other animals. These studies provided varying forms of evidence that some species were capable of symbolically representing their worlds, both through productive symbol use and comprehension of symbolic stimuli. One such project at the Language Research Center involved training chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to use lexigram symbols (geometric visual stimuli that represented objects, actions, locations, and individuals). Those studies now are more than 40 years old, and only a few of the apes involved in those studies are still alive. Three of these chimpanzees (and a fourth, control chimpanzee) were assessed across a 10-year period from 1999 to 2008 for their continued knowledge of lexigram symbols and, in the case of one chimpanzee, the continued ability to comprehend human speech. This article describes that longitudinal assessment and outlines the degree to which symbol competence was retained by these chimpanzees across that decade-long period. All chimpanzees showed retention of lexigram vocabularies, although there were differences in the number of words that were retained across the individuals. One chimpanzee also showed continual retention of human speech perception. These retained vocabularies largely consisted of food item names, but also names of inedible objects, locations, individuals, and some actions. Many of these retained words were for things that are not common in the daily lives of the chimpanzees and for things that are rarely requested by the chimpanzees. Thus, the early experiences of these chimpanzees in symbol-rich environments have produced long-lasting memories for symbol meaning, and those competencies have benefited research in a variety of topics in comparative cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J. Beran
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, University Plaza, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America
| | - Lisa A. Heimbauer
- Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, Moore Building, University Park, State College, Pennsylvania, United States of America
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16
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Bisazza A, Tagliapietra C, Bertolucci C, Foà A, Agrillo C. Non-visual numerical discrimination in a blind cavefish (Phreatichthys andruzzii). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 217:1902-9. [PMID: 24871921 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.101683] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Over a decade of comparative studies, researchers have found that rudimentary numerical abilities are widespread among vertebrates. While experiments in mammals and birds have employed a variety of stimuli (visual, auditory and tactile), all fish studies involved visual stimuli and it is unknown whether fish can process numbers in other sensory modalities. To fill this gap, we studied numerical abilities in Phreatichthys andruzzii, a blind cave-dwelling species that evolved in the phreatic layer of the Somalia desert. Fish were trained to receive a food reward to discriminate between two groups of objects placed in opposite positions of their home tank. In Experiment 1, subjects learned to discriminate between two and six objects, with stimuli not controlled for non-numerical continuous variables that co-vary with numbers, such as total area occupied by stimuli or density. In Experiment 2, the discrimination was two versus four, with half of the stimuli controlled for continuous quantities and half not controlled for continuous quantities. The subjects discriminated only the latter condition, indicating that they spontaneously used non-numerical information, as other vertebrates tested in similar experiments. In Experiments 3 and 4, cavefish trained from the beginning only with stimuli controlled for continuous quantities proved able to learn the discrimination of quantities based on the sole numerical information. However, their numerical acuity was lower than that reported in other teleost fish tested with visual stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelo Bisazza
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | | | - Cristiano Bertolucci
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Augusto Foà
- Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, 44121 Ferrara, Italy
| | - Christian Agrillo
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padova, Italy
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17
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Parrish AE, Evans TA, Beran MJ. Defining value through quantity and quality-Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) undervalue food quantities when items are broken. Behav Processes 2014; 111:118-26. [PMID: 25447509 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2014] [Revised: 10/29/2014] [Accepted: 11/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Decision-making largely is influenced by the relative value of choice options, and the value of such options can be determined by a combination of different factors (e.g., the quantity, size, or quality of a stimulus). In this study, we examined the competing influences of quantity (i.e., the number of food items in a set) and quality (i.e., the original state of a food item) of choice items on chimpanzees' food preferences in a two-option natural choice paradigm. In Experiment 1, chimpanzees chose between sets of food items that were either entirely whole or included items that were broken into pieces before being shown to the chimpanzees. Chimpanzees exhibited a bias for whole food items even when such choice options consisted of a smaller overall quantity of food than the sets containing broken items. In Experiment 2, chimpanzees chose between sets of entirely whole food items and sets of initially whole items that were subsequently broken in view of the chimpanzees just before choice time. Chimpanzees continued to exhibit a bias for sets of whole items. In Experiment 3, chimpanzees chose between sets of new food items that were initially discrete but were subsequently transformed into a larger cohesive unit. Here, chimpanzees were biased to choose the discrete sets that retained their original qualitative state rather than toward the cohesive or clumped sets. These results demonstrate that beyond a food set's quantity (i.e., the value dimension that accounts for maximization in terms of caloric intake), other seemingly non-relevant features (i.e., quality in terms of a set's original state) affect how chimpanzees assign value to their choice options.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audrey E Parrish
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Psychology Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Theodore A Evans
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Michael J Beran
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Psychology Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
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18
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Visual nesting of stimuli affects rhesus monkeys' (Macaca mulatta) quantity judgments in a bisection task. Atten Percept Psychophys 2014; 75:1243-51. [PMID: 23709063 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-013-0474-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Nonhuman animals are highly proficient at judging relative quantities presented in a variety of formats, including visual, auditory, and even cross-modal formats. Performance typically is constrained by the ratio between sets, as would be expected under Weber's law and as is described in the approximate number system (ANS) hypothesis. In most cases, tests are designed to avoid any perceptual confusion for animals regarding the stimulus sets, but despite this, animals show some of the perceptual biases that humans show based on organization of stimuli. Here, we demonstrate an additional perceptual bias that emerges from the illusion of nested sets. When arrays of circles were presented on a computer screen and were to be classified as larger than or smaller than an established central value, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) underestimated quantities when circles were nested within each other. This matched a previous report with adult humans (Chesney & Gelman, Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 24:1104-1113, 2012), indicating that macaques, like humans, show the pattern of biased perception predicted by ANS estimation. Although some macaques overcame this perceptual bias, demonstrating that they could come to view nested stimuli as individual elements to be included in the estimates of quantity used for classifying arrays, the majority of the monkeys showed the bias of underestimating nested arrays throughout the experiment.
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19
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Akre KL, Johnsen S. Psychophysics and the evolution of behavior. Trends Ecol Evol 2014; 29:291-300. [PMID: 24726346 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2013] [Revised: 03/12/2014] [Accepted: 03/14/2014] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Sensory information allows animals to interpret their environment and make decisions. The ways in which animals perceive and measure stimuli from the social and physical environment guide nearly every decision they make. Thus, sensory perception and associated cognitive processing have a strong impact on behavioral evolution. Research in this area often focuses on the unique properties of the sensory system of an individual species, yet certain relevant features of perception and cognition generally hold across taxa. One such general feature is the proportionally based translation of physical stimulus magnitude into perceived stimulus magnitude. This process has been recognized for over a century, but recent studies have begun to consider how a law of proportional psychophysics, Weber's law, exerts selective force in behavioral evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karin L Akre
- Biology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
| | - Sönke Johnsen
- Biology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
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20
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Beran MJ, Parrish AE, Perdue BM, Washburn DA. Comparative Cognition: Past, Present, and Future. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2014; 27:3-30. [PMID: 25419047 PMCID: PMC4239033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Comparative cognition is the field of inquiry concerned with understanding the cognitive abilities and mechanisms that are evident in nonhuman species. Assessments of animal cognition have a long history, but in recent years there has been an explosion of new research topics, and a general broadening of the phylogenetic map of animal cognition. To review the past of comparative cognition, we describe the historical trends. In regards to the present state, we examine current "hot topics" in comparative cognition. Finally, we offer our unique and combined thoughts on the future of the field.
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Parrish AE, Beran MJ. Chimpanzees sometimes see fuller as better: judgments of food quantities based on container size and fullness. Behav Processes 2013; 103:184-91. [PMID: 24374384 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2013.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2013] [Revised: 11/06/2013] [Accepted: 12/18/2013] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The context in which food is presented can alter quantity judgments leading to sub-optimal choice behavior. Humans often over-estimate food quantity on the basis of how food is presented. Food appears larger if plated on smaller dishes than larger dishes and liquid volumes appear larger in taller cups than shorter cups. Moreover, smaller but fuller containers are preferred in comparison to larger, but less full containers with a truly larger quantity. Here, we assessed whether similar phenomena occur in chimpanzees. Four chimpanzees chose between two amounts of food presented in different sized containers, a large (2 oz.) and small (1 oz.) cup. When different quantities were presented in the same-sized cups or when the small cup contained the larger quantity, chimpanzees were highly accurate in choosing the larger food amount. However, when different-sized cups contained the same amount of food or the smaller cup contained the smaller amount of food (but looked relatively fuller), the chimpanzees often showed a bias to select the smaller but fuller cup. These findings contribute to our understanding of how quantity estimation and portion judgment is impacted by the surrounding context in which it is presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Audrey E Parrish
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Psychology Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| | - Michael J Beran
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA
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When less is more: like humans, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) misperceive food amounts based on plate size. Anim Cogn 2013; 17:427-34. [PMID: 23949698 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-013-0674-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2013] [Revised: 08/01/2013] [Accepted: 08/07/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
We investigated whether chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) misperceived food portion sizes depending upon the context in which they were presented, something that often affects how much humans serve themselves and subsequently consume. Chimpanzees judged same-sized and smaller food portions to be larger in amount when presented on a small plate compared to an equal or larger food portion presented on a large plate and did so despite clearly being able to tell the difference in portions when plate size was identical. These results are consistent with data from the human literature in which people misperceive food portion sizes as a function of plate size. This misperception is attributed to the Delboeuf illusion which occurs when the size of a central item is misperceived on the basis of its surrounding context. These results demonstrate a cross-species shared visual misperception of portion size that affects choice behavior, here in a nonhuman species for which there is little experience with tests that involve choosing between food amounts on dinnerware. The biases resulting in this form of misperception of food portions appear to have a deep-rooted evolutionary history which we share with, at minimum, our closest living nonhuman relative, the chimpanzee.
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Is approximate numerical judgment truly modality-independent? Visual, auditory, and cross-modal comparisons. Atten Percept Psychophys 2013; 75:1852-61. [PMID: 23913137 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-013-0526-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Leibovich T, Henik A. Magnitude processing in non-symbolic stimuli. Front Psychol 2013; 4:375. [PMID: 23805121 PMCID: PMC3691512 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2013] [Accepted: 06/07/2013] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Dot arrays are often used to study basic numerical skills across cultures, species and development. Researchers investigate the ability of subjects to discriminate between dot arrays, as a function of the ratio or distance between their numerosities. Such studies have contributed significantly to the number sense theory (i.e., that humans are born with the ability to process numerosities, and share this ability with various species)—possibly the most influential theory in numerical cognition literature today. However, a dot array contains, in addition to numerosity, continuous properties such as the total surface area of the dots, their density, etc. These properties are highly correlated with numerosity and therefore might influence participants' performance. Different ways in which different studies choose to deal with this confound sometimes lead to contradicting results, and in our opinion, do not completely eliminate the confound. In this work, we review these studies and suggest several possible reasons for the contradictions in the literature. We also suggest that studying continuous properties, instead of just trying to control them, may contribute to unraveling the building blocks of numerical abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tali Leibovich
- The Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva, Israel ; The Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology and the Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva, Israel
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Beran MJ, McIntyre JM, Garland A, Evans TA. What counts for 'counting'? Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, respond appropriately to relevant and irrelevant information in a quantity judgment task. Anim Behav 2013; 85:987-993. [PMID: 23750039 DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Nonhuman animals quantify all manner of things, and the way in which this is done is fairly well understood. However, little research has been conducted to determine how they know what is or is not relevant in the instances in which they quantify stimuli. We assessed how four chimpanzees chose between two sets of food items when the items were distributed across separate spatial arrays. Each item was covered by a container, and then was revealed in sequence so that neither whole set was visible at one time. After all containers were revealed, some were revealed again. The chimpanzees should have ignored items that were seen a second time and instead enumerated each item only once. In another test, some of the items were transposed in location and then uncovered again. Here, the chimpanzees needed to recognize that the newly shown food items were ones they already had seen. Overall, the chimpanzees were successful in selecting the truly larger array of items despite these potential distracting re-presentations of items. Discrimination performance also reflected analogue magnitude estimation because comparisons of sets that differed by larger amounts were easier than comparisons that differed by smaller amounts. Thus, chimpanzee quantity judgments for nonvisible sets of items are inexact, but they include an aspect of control for determining when items are uniquely presented versus re-presented.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Beran
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, U.S.A
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Panteleeva S, Reznikova Z, Vygonyailova O. Quantity judgments in the context of risk/reward decision making in striped field mice: first "count," then hunt. Front Psychol 2013; 4:53. [PMID: 23407476 PMCID: PMC3570766 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2012] [Accepted: 01/24/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We simulated the situation of risky hunting in the striped field mouse Apodemus agrarius in order to examine whether these animals are able to make a choice between small and large quantities of live prey (ants). In the first (preliminary) experiment we investigated to what extent mice were interested in ants as a live prey and how their hunting activity depended on the quantity of these edible but rather aggressive insects. We placed mice one by one into arenas together with ant groups of different quantities, from 10 to 60. Surprisingly, animals, both wild-caught and laboratory-reared, displayed rather skilled predatory attacks: mice killed and ate from 0.37 ± 003 to 4 ± 0.5 ants per minute. However, there was a threshold number of ants in the arenas when rodents expressed signs of discomfort and started to panic, likely because ants bit them. This threshold corresponds to the dynamic density (about 400 individuals per m2 per min) in the vicinity of anthills and ants' routes in natural environment. In the second experiment mice had to choose between different quantities of ants placed in two transparent tunnels. Ants here served both as food items and as a source of danger. As far as we know, this is the first experimental paradigm based on evaluation of quantity judgments in the context of risk/reward decision making where the animals face a trade-off between the hedonistic value of the prey and the danger it presents. We found that when mice have to choose between 5 vs. 15, 5 vs. 30, and 10 vs. 30 ants, they always tend to prefer the smaller quantity, thus displaying the capacity for distinguishing more from less in order to ensure comfortable hunting. The results of this study are ecologically relevant as they reflect situations and challenges faced by free-living small rodents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sofia Panteleeva
- Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Russian Academy of Science Novosibirsk, Russia ; Novosibirsk State University Novosibirsk, Russia
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Anderson US, Cordes S. 1 < 2 and 2 < 3: non-linguistic appreciations of numerical order. Front Psychol 2013; 4:5. [PMID: 23355830 PMCID: PMC3554834 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2012] [Accepted: 01/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Ordinal understanding is involved in understanding social hierarchies, series of actions, and everyday events. Moreover, an appreciation of numerical order is critical to understanding number at a highly abstract, conceptual level. In this paper, we review findings concerning the development and expression of ordinal numerical knowledge in preverbal human infants in light of literature about the same cognitive abilities in non-human animals. We attempt to reconcile seemingly contradictory evidence, provide new directions for prospective research, and evaluate the shared basis of ordinal knowledge among non-verbal organisms. Our review of the research leads us to conclude that both infants and non-human animals are adapted to respond to monotonic progressions in numerical order, consonant with mathematical definitions of numerical order. Further, we suggest that patterns in the way that infants and non-human animals process numerical order can be accounted for by changes across development, the conditions under which representations are generated, or both.
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Beran MJ, Perdue BM, Parrish AE, Evans TA. Do Social Conditions Affect Capuchin Monkeys' (Cebus apella) Choices in a Quantity Judgment Task? Front Psychol 2012. [PMID: 23181038 PMCID: PMC3499911 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Beran et al. (2012) reported that capuchin monkeys closely matched the performance of humans in a quantity judgment test in which information was incomplete but a judgment still had to be made. In each test session, subjects first made quantity judgments between two known options. Then, they made choices where only one option was visible. Both humans and capuchin monkeys were guided by past outcomes, as they shifted from selecting a known option to selecting an unknown option at the point at which the known option went from being more than the average rate of return to less than the average rate of return from earlier choices in the test session. Here, we expanded this assessment of what guides quantity judgment choice behavior in the face of incomplete information to include manipulations to the unselected quantity. We manipulated the unchosen set in two ways: first, we showed the monkeys what they did not get (the unchosen set), anticipating that "losses" would weigh heavily on subsequent trials in which the same known quantity was presented. Second, we sometimes gave the unchosen set to another monkey, anticipating that this social manipulation might influence the risk-taking responses of the focal monkey when faced with incomplete information. However, neither manipulation caused difficulty for the monkeys who instead continued to use the rational strategy of choosing known sets when they were as large as or larger than the average rate of return in the session, and choosing the unknown (riskier) set when the known set was not sufficiently large. As in past experiments, this was true across a variety of daily ranges of quantities, indicating that monkeys were not using some absolute quantity as a threshold for selecting (or not) the known set, but instead continued to use the daily average rate of return to determine when to choose the known versus the unknown quantity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Beran
- Language Research Center, Georgia State University Atlanta, GA, USA
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