Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 23 October 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5389, pp. 746 - 749
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5389.746
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Ordering of the Numerosities 1 to 9 by Monkeys

Elizabeth M. Brannon, Herbert S. Terrace

A fundamental question in cognitive science is whether animals can represent numerosity (a property of a stimulus that is defined by the number of discriminable elements it contains) and use numerical representations computationally. Here, it was shown that rhesus monkeys represent the numerosity of visual stimuli and detect their ordinal disparity. Two monkeys were first trained to respond to exemplars of the numerosities 1 to 4 in an ascending numerical order (1 rightarrow  2 rightarrow  3 rightarrow  4). As a control for non-numerical cues, exemplars were varied with respect to size, shape, and color. The monkeys were later tested, without reward, on their ability to order stimulus pairs composed of the novel numerosities 5 to 9. Both monkeys responded in an ascending order to the novel numerosities. These results show that rhesus monkeys represent the numerosities 1 to 9 on an ordinal scale.

E. M. Brannon, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. H. S. Terrace, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mail: liz{at}psych.columbia.edu; terrace{at}columbia.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Overlapping and Distinct Neural Representations of Numbers and Verbal Transitive Series.
J. Prado, I. A. Noveck, and J.-B. Van Der Henst (2009)
Cereb Cortex
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Arithmetic in newborn chicks.
R. Rugani, L. Fontanari, E. Simoni, L. Regolin, and G. Vallortigara (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 2451-2460
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Processing of order information for numbers and months.
M. S. Franklin, J. Jonides, and E. E. Smith (2009)
Mem Cognit 37, 644-654
   Abstract »    PDF »
Dynamic representations underlying symbolic and nonsymbolic calculation: Evidence from the operational momentum effect.
A. Knops, A. Viarouge, and S. Dehaene (2009)
Atten Percept Psychophys 71, 803-821
   Abstract »    PDF »
The uniquely human capacity to throw evolved from a non-throwing primate: an evolutionary dissociation between action and perception.
J. N Wood, D. D Glynn, and M. D Hauser (2007)
Biol Lett 3, 360-365
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Labeled-Line Code for Small and Large Numerosities in the Monkey Prefrontal Cortex.
A. Nieder and K. Merten (2007)
J. Neurosci. 27, 5986-5993
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The multisensory representation of number in infancy.
K. E. Jordan and E. M. Brannon (2006)
PNAS 103, 3486-3489
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Semantic congruity affects numerical judgments similarly in monkeys and humans.
J. F. Cantlon and E. M. Brannon (2005)
PNAS 102, 16507-16511
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A parieto-frontal network for visual numerical information in the monkey.
A. Nieder and E. K. Miller (2004)
PNAS 101, 7457-7462
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Apparent and Effective Dimensionality of Representations of Objects.
I. Spence (2004)
Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46, 738-747
   Abstract »    PDF »
The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?.
M. D. Hauser, N. Chomsky, and W. T. Fitch (2002)
Science 298, 1569-1579
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Representation of the Quantity of Visual Items in the Primate Prefrontal Cortex.
A. Nieder, D. J. Freedman, and E. K. Miller (2002)
Science 297, 1708-1711
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Social Awareness in Monkeys.
R. M. Seyfarth and D. L. Cheney (2000)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 40, 902-909
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cerebral Activation during Multiplication: A Functional MR Imaging Study of Number Processing.
R. K. Fulbright, D. L. Molfese, A. A. Stevens, P. Skudlarski, C. M. Lacadie, and J. C. Gore (2000)
AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol. 21, 1048-1054
   Abstract »    Full Text »
Sources of Mathematical Thinking: Behavioral and Brain-Imaging Evidence.
S. Dehaene, E. Spelke, P. Pinel, R. Stanescu, and S. Tsivkin (1999)
Science 284, 970-974
   Abstract »    Full Text »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)