Lemurs and macaques show similar numerical sensitivity.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
We investigated the precision of the approximate number system (ANS) in three lemur species (Lemur catta, Eulemur mongoz, and Eulemur macaco flavifrons), one Old World monkey species (Macaca mulatta) and humans (Homo sapiens). In Experiment 1, four individuals of each nonhuman primate species were trained to select the numerically larger of two visual arrays on a touchscreen. We estimated numerical acuity by modeling Weber fractions (w) and found quantitatively equivalent performance among all four nonhuman primate species. In Experiment 2, we tested adult humans in a similar procedure, and they outperformed the four nonhuman species but showed qualitatively similar performance. These results indicate that the ANS is conserved over the primate order.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Jones, SM; Pearson, J; DeWind, NK; Paulsen, D; Tenekedjieva, A-M; Brannon, EM
Published Date
- May 2014
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 17 / 3
Start / End Page
- 503 - 515
PubMed ID
- 24068469
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC3966981
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1435-9456
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1007/s10071-013-0682-3
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- Germany