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The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value
When humans and animals estimate numbers of items, their error rate is proportional to the number. To date, however, only humans show the capacity to represent large numbers symbolically, which endows them with increased precision, especially for large numbers, and with tools for manipulating number...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Springer-Verlag
2010
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921054/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20443126 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-010-0321-1 |
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author | Livingstone, Margaret S. Srihasam, Krishna Morocz, Istvan A. |
author_facet | Livingstone, Margaret S. Srihasam, Krishna Morocz, Istvan A. |
author_sort | Livingstone, Margaret S. |
collection | PubMed |
description | When humans and animals estimate numbers of items, their error rate is proportional to the number. To date, however, only humans show the capacity to represent large numbers symbolically, which endows them with increased precision, especially for large numbers, and with tools for manipulating numbers. This ability depends critically on our capacity to acquire and represent explicit symbols. Here we show that when rhesus monkeys are trained to use an explicit symbol system, they too show more precise, and linear, scaling than they do using a one-to-one corresponding numerosity representation. We also found that when taught two different types of representations for reward amount, the monkeys systematically undervalued the less precise representation. The results indicate that monkeys, like humans, can learn alternative mechanisms for representing a single value scale and that performance variability and relative value depend on the distinguishability of each representation. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-2921054 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2010 |
publisher | Springer-Verlag |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-29210542010-08-20 The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value Livingstone, Margaret S. Srihasam, Krishna Morocz, Istvan A. Anim Cogn Original Paper When humans and animals estimate numbers of items, their error rate is proportional to the number. To date, however, only humans show the capacity to represent large numbers symbolically, which endows them with increased precision, especially for large numbers, and with tools for manipulating numbers. This ability depends critically on our capacity to acquire and represent explicit symbols. Here we show that when rhesus monkeys are trained to use an explicit symbol system, they too show more precise, and linear, scaling than they do using a one-to-one corresponding numerosity representation. We also found that when taught two different types of representations for reward amount, the monkeys systematically undervalued the less precise representation. The results indicate that monkeys, like humans, can learn alternative mechanisms for representing a single value scale and that performance variability and relative value depend on the distinguishability of each representation. Springer-Verlag 2010-05-05 2010 /pmc/articles/PMC2921054/ /pubmed/20443126 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-010-0321-1 Text en © The Author(s) 2010 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Original Paper Livingstone, Margaret S. Srihasam, Krishna Morocz, Istvan A. The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value |
title | The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value |
title_full | The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value |
title_fullStr | The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value |
title_full_unstemmed | The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value |
title_short | The benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value |
title_sort | benefit of symbols: monkeys show linear, human-like, accuracy when using symbols to represent scalar value |
topic | Original Paper |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921054/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20443126 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-010-0321-1 |
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