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Edited by Charles Gross, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, and approved May 11, 2015 (received for review March 2, 2015)
Significance
Birds are known for their advanced numerical competence, although a six-layered neocortex that is thought to enable primates with the highest levels of cognition is lacking in birds. We recorded neuronal activity from an endbrain association area termed nidopallium caudolaterale (NCL) in crows that discriminated the number of items in displays. NCL neurons were tuned to preferred numerosities. Neuronal discharges were relevant for the crows’ correct performance. Both the neuronal and the behavioral tuning functions were best described on a logarithmic number line, just as predicted by the psychophysical Weber–Fecher Law. Our data suggests that this way of coding numerical information has evolved based on convergent evolution as a superior solution to a common computational problem.
Abstract
It is unknown whether anatomical specializations in the endbrains of different vertebrates determine the neuronal code to represent numerical quantity. Therefore, we recorded single-neuron activity from the endbrain of crows trained to judge the number of items in displays. Many neurons were tuned for numerosities irrespective of the physical appearance of the items, and their activity correlated with performance outcome. Comparison of both behavioral and neuronal representations of numerosity revealed that the data are best described by a logarithmically compressed scaling of numerical information, as postulated by the Weber–Fechner law. The behavioral and neuronal numerosity representations in the crow reflect surprisingly well those found in the primate association cortex. This finding suggests that distantly related vertebrates with independently developed endbrains adopted similar neuronal solutions to process quantity.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: andreas.nieder{at}uni-tuebingen.de.
Author contributions: A.N. designed research; H.M.D. performed research; H.M.D. analyzed data; and H.M.D. and A.N. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
Number neurons in crows
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