Neurobiology of abstract magnitude rules

处理抽象数量信息以实现内部目标的能力是智能的、目标导向的行为的核心。特别是数字认知，是基于高度抽象的原则，或规则，如何结构，处理和评估定量信息，因此内在地需要认知控制功能。 然而，数量级规则是否、在哪里以及如何由单个神经元来表示仍然是难以捉摸的。 在这个项目中，我们将调查基于数量信息的任务转移的神经基础，通过记录单个额叶和顶叶神经元的活动，恒河猴训练灵活地应用数量规则。 由于猴子联想皮层中的神经元回路很可能在灵长类动物进化过程中被采用，这些发现也可能有助于阐明人类形式化符号系统中的ab-principle处理。

The ability to process abstract quantity information to achieve internally maintained goals is central to intelli-gent, goal-directed behaviour. Numerical cognition, in particular, is based on highly abstract principles, or rules, of how to structure, process and evaluate quantitative information, and thus inherently requires cogni-tive control functioning. If, where, and how magnitude rules can be represented by single neurons, however, remained elusive. In this project, we will investigate the neural basis of task shifting based on magnitude information by recording the activity of individual frontal and parietal lobe neurons in rhesus monkeys trained to flexibly apply quantitative rules. Because the neuronal circuits in the monkey association cortex could readily have been adopted in the course of primate evolution, these findings may also help to elucidate ab-stract rule processing in formalized, symbolic systems in humans.