Neurons in the Endbrain of Numerically Naive Crows Spontaneously Encode Visual Numerosity
Neurons in the Endbrain of Numerically Naive Crows Spontaneously Encode Visual Numerosity
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.023
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发表时间：
2018-04
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Lysann Wagener;Maria Loconsole;Helen M. Ditz;A. Nieder
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Lysann Wagener;Maria Loconsole;Helen M. Ditz;A. Nieder
人类和其他灵长类动物被赋予了复杂的大脑皮层，从出生起[1]就可以评估一组中的项目数量，或者说数字度，而无需训练[2]。自发的数字提取是否是哺乳动物大脑皮层的一个独特的壮举[3-7]，或者更确切地说，是一种适应性特性，可以在不同设计和独立进化的神经基质中找到，例如鸟类的脑[8]，目前尚不清楚。为了解决这个问题，我们记录了nidopallium caudolaterale（NCL）的单细胞活动，NCL是一个高水平的鸟类关联脑区[9-11]，是数字幼稚的乌鸦。我们发现，一部分NCL神经元自发地对数字性做出反应，并调整到项目的数量，即使乌鸦从未接受过评估数字数量的训练。我们的数据表明，数量选择性神经元反应自发地存在于不同的脊椎动物类群的不同端脑。鸟类端脑提取数字量的这种似乎与生俱来的特性解释了野生鸟类或刚孵化出来的鸟类在做出觅食或社会决策时如何利用数字线索。这表明，基于趋同进化而进化的端脑回路，如鸟类的端脑，产生了相同的数字代码。
Endowed with an elaborate cerebral cortex, humans and other primates can assess the number of items in a set, or numerosity, from birth on [1] and without being trained [2]. Whether spontaneous numerosity extraction is a unique feat of the mammalian cerebral cortex [3–7] or rather an adaptive property that can be found in differently designed and independently evolved neural substrates, such as the avian enbrain [8], is unknown. To address this question, we recorded single-cell activity from the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), a high-level avian association brain area [9–11], of numerically naive crows. We found that a proportion of NCL neurons were spontaneously responsive to numerosity and tuned to the number of items, even though the crows were never trained to assess numerical quantity. Our data show that numerosity-selective neuronal responses are spontaneously present in the distinct endbrains of diverge vertebrate taxa. This seemingly hard-wired property of the avian endbrain to extract numerical quantity explains how birds in the wild, or right after hatching, can exploit numerical cues when making foraging or social decisions. It suggests that endbrain circuitries that evolved based on convergent evolution, such as the avian endbrain, give rise to the same numerosity code.