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Lemurs and macaques show similar numerical sensitivity

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Abstract

We investigated the precision of the approximate number system (ANS) in three lemur species (Lemur catta, Eulemur mongoz, and Eulemur macaco flavifrons), one Old World monkey species (Macaca mulatta) and humans (Homo sapiens). In Experiment 1, four individuals of each nonhuman primate species were trained to select the numerically larger of two visual arrays on a touchscreen. We estimated numerical acuity by modeling Weber fractions (w) and found quantitatively equivalent performance among all four nonhuman primate species. In Experiment 2, we tested adult humans in a similar procedure, and they outperformed the four nonhuman species but showed qualitatively similar performance. These results indicate that the ANS is conserved over the primate order.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Duke Lemur Center, Monica Carlson, and the many research assistants who assisted with this research. We thank members of the Brannon laboratory for their helpful discussion of these data. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation CAREER award (No. 0448250) to Elizabeth M. Brannon.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

The experiments reported here comply with the current laws of the United States of America.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    Sarah M. Jones, David Paulsen & Elizabeth M. Brannon

  2. Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA

    John Pearson, Nicholas K. DeWind, Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva & Elizabeth M. Brannon

  3. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    John Pearson & Nicholas K. DeWind

  4. Division of Neurosurgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    John Pearson

  5. Psychology Department, St. Norbert College, De Pere, WI, USA

    Sarah M. Jones

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  1. Sarah M. Jones
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  2. John Pearson
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  3. Nicholas K. DeWind
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  4. David Paulsen
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  5. Ana-Maria Tenekedjieva
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  6. Elizabeth M. Brannon
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Jones, S.M., Pearson, J., DeWind, N.K. et al. Lemurs and macaques show similar numerical sensitivity. Anim Cogn 17, 503–515 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0682-3

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