Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:15:56 BST CiteULike: Group: Glimcher_Lab - with tag representation http://www.citeulike.org/group/70/tag/representation CiteULike.org en-gb Copyright © 2004-2008 citeulike.org http://www.citeulike.org/group/70/article/1204783 <i>Cognition (20 March 2007)</i><br /><br />Fundamental questions in cognitive science concern the origins and nature of the units that compose visual experience. Here, we investigate the capacity to individuate and store information about non-solid portions, asking in particular whether free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) quantify portions of a non-solid substance presented in discrete pouring actions. When presented with portions of carrot pieces poured from a cup into opaque boxes, rhesus picked the box with the greatest number of portions for comparisons of 1 vs. 2, 2 vs. 3, and 3 vs. 4, but not for comparisons of 4 vs. 5 and 3 vs. 6. Additional experiments indicate that rhesus based their decisions on both the number of portions and the total amount of food. These results show that the capacity to individuate non-solid portions is not unique to humans, and does not depend on structures of natural language. Further, the fact that rhesus' ability to represent non-solid portions is constrained by the same 4-item limit typically ascribed to the system of parallel individuation that operates over solid objects suggests that the visual system recruits common working memory processes for retaining information about solid objects and non-solid portions. We discuss our results with respect to theories of visual processing, as well as to the role that the human language faculty may have played in both the evolution and development of quantification. Free-ranging rhesus monkeys spontaneously individuate and enumerate small numbers of non-solid portions. Justin N Wood Marc D Hauser David D Glynn David Barner doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.01.004 Cognition (20 March 2007) 2007-04-03T16:00:10-00:00 2007 Cognition 0010-0277 evolution language macaques number representation http://www.citeulike.org/group/70/article/2188656 <i>Science, Vol. 301, No. 5637. (29 August 2003), pp. 1246-1249.</i><br /><br />Complex biological systems such as human language and the genetic code are characterized by explicit markers at the beginning and end of functional sequences. We report here that macaque prefrontal cortical neurons exhibit phasic peaks of spike activity that occur at the beginning and endpoint of sequential oculomotor saccade performance and have the properties of dynamic start- and end-state encoders accompanying responses to sequential actions. Sequence bounding may thus reflect a general mechanism for encoding biological information. Representation of action sequence boundaries by macaque prefrontal cortical neurons. N Fujii AM Graybiel doi:10.1126/science.1086872 Science, Vol. 301, No. 5637. (29 August 2003), pp. 1246-1249. 2008-01-02T16:32:52-00:00 2003 Science 1095-9203 301 5637 1246 1249 action macaques pfc representation sequencce