Evolution of cognitive and neural solutions enabling numerosity judgements: lessons from primates and corvids
Evolution of cognitive and neural solutions enabling numerosity judgements: lessons from primates and corvids
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DOI：
10.1098/rstb.2016.0514
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发表时间：
2018-02
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
A. Nieder
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作者：
A. Nieder
能够代表数量（numerosity），即一个集合中项目的数量的大脑，在不同的动物分类群中反复出现，并独立存在。本文比较了非人灵长类动物恒河猴和鸦科鸣禽食腐乌鸦的认知和生理机制，以阐明数字能力的进化适应性。猴子和鸦科动物以其先进的认知能力而闻名，尽管它们都有独立而独特的进化终脑，这是长期平行进化的结果。在这两个物种中，数量都是由近似的数字系统来表示的，近似的数字系统遵循韦伯-费希纳定律。此外，猴子的额顶叶联合皮层和乌鸦的端脑联合区nidopallium caudolaterale中的数量选择性神经元的活动反映了动物的表现。在这两个物种的大脑中，神经元活动都被调整到一个优选的数值，以近似的方式对数值进行编码，并且最好用对数尺度表示。总的来说，这些数据显示了猴子和乌鸦之间数字表征的认知和神经机制的惊人对应。这表明，远程相关的脊椎动物与明显发达的端脑采用了类似的生理解决方案，以共同的计算问题，在数字处理。这篇文章是一个讨论会的一部分问题“数字能力的起源”。
Brains that are capable of representing numerosity, the number of items in a set, have arisen repeatedly and independently in different animal taxa. This review compares the cognitive and physiological mechanisms found in a nonhuman primate, the rhesus macaque, and a corvid songbird, the carrion crow, in order to elucidate the evolutionary adaptations underlying numerical competence. Monkeys and corvids are known for their advanced cognitive competence, despite them both having independently and distinctly evolved endbrains that resulted from a long history of parallel evolution. In both species, numerosity is represented as an analogue magnitude by an approximate number system that obeys the Weber–Fechner Law. In addition, the activity of numerosity-selective neurons in the fronto-parietal association cortex of monkeys and the telencephalic associative area nidopallium caudolaterale of crows mirrors the animals' performance. In both species' brains, neuronal activity is tuned to a preferred numerosity, encodes the numerical value in an approximate fashion, and is best represented on a logarithmic scale. Collectively, the data show an impressive correspondence of the cognitive and neuronal mechanisms for numerosity representations across monkeys and crows. This suggests that remotely related vertebrates with distinctly developed endbrains adopted similar physiological solutions to common computational problems in numerosity processing. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘The origins of numerical abilities'.