Counting without a cortex - Neuronal correlates of quantity representations in the corvid brain

鸟类和哺乳动物的最后一个共同祖先生活在大约3亿年前，当时新大脑皮层还没有从端脑大脑皮层发育出来。尽管它们的前脑组织有明显的根本差异，但乌鸦(松鸦、寒鸦、乌鸦和乌鸦)表现出非常聪明的行为，甚至可以与非人类灵长类相媲美。虽然哺乳动物的大脑得到了深入的研究，但到目前为止还没有人研究过Corvid认知的神经机制。根据目前的项目提案，我们将把腐烂乌鸦(Corvus Corone)建立为系统神经科学的一个新的、有前途的模式系统。植根于Otto Koehler的经典工作，他首次提供了科学证据，证明乌鸦在分类和概念化数值方面具有优越的技能，我们将在乌鸦行为中探讨这种认知能力的单神经元基础。使用多电极技术，我们将同时记录Nidopallium caudolaterale(NCL)的几个区域的神经元活动，这是已知对鸟类复杂的认知功能非常重要的区域。这将使我们能够确定智能Corvids中抽象量表示的底物和编码方案。将预期的差异和共性与非人类灵长类动物的发现进行比较，将有助于破译系统发育特定的大脑结构以外灵活行为的一般机制，并阐明高度认知的脊椎动物大脑设计的进化制约因素。

The last common ancestor of birds and mammals lived some 300 Mio years ago, at a time when the neocortex had not yet developed from the telencephalic pallium. Despite the consequential fundamental differences in their forebrain organization, corvids (jays, jackdaws, crows and ravens) show remarkably intelligent behaviors that rival even nonhuman primates. While the mammalian brain is intensively studied, the neuronal mechanisms of corvid cognition so far have never been addressed. With the current project proposal, we will establish the carrion crow (Corvus corone) as a new and promising model system for systems neuroscience. Rooted in the classical work of Otto Koehler who for the first time provided scientific evidence that corvids are endowed with superior skills in categorizing and conceptualizing numerical quantity, we will investigate the single-neuron basis of this cognitive ability in behaving crows. Using multiple-electrode techniques, we will simultaneously record neuronal activity from several areas of the nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL), an area known to be important for elaborate cognitive functioning in birds. This will allow us to pin down the substrates and coding schemes of abstract quantity representation in intelligent corvids. Comparing expected differences and commonalities to findings in nonhuman primates will help to decipher the general mechanisms of flexible behaviors beyond phylogenetically-specific brain structures and elucidate the evolutionary constraints for the design of highly cognitive vertebrate brains.