Whether non-symbolic encoding of quantity is predisposed at birth with dedicated hard-wired neural circuits is debated. Here we presented newlyhatched visually naive chicks with stimuli (flashing dots) of either identical or different numerousness (with a ratio 1:3) with their continuous physical appearance (size, contour length, density, convex hull) randomly changing. Chicks spontaneously tell apart the stimuli on the basis of the number of elements. Upon presentation of either fixed or changing numerousness chicks showed different expression of early gene c-fos in the visual Wulst, the hippocampal formation, the intermediate medial mesopallium, and the caudal part of the nidopallium caudolaterale. The results support the hypothesis that the ability to discriminate quantities does not require any specific instructive experience and involves a neural network with several populations of number-selective neurons. Evidence for innateness of non-symbolic numerical cognition have implications for both neurobiology and philosophy of mathematics.

Innate responses to numerousness reveal neural activation in different brain regions in newly-hatched visually naïve chicks / Lorenzi, Elena; Perrino, Matilde; Messina, Andrea; Zanon, Mirko; Vallortigara, Giorgio. - In: HELIYON. - ISSN 2405-8440. - 10:14(2024). [10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34162]

Innate responses to numerousness reveal neural activation in different brain regions in newly-hatched visually naïve chicks

Lorenzi, Elena
;
Perrino, Matilde;Messina, Andrea;Zanon, Mirko;Vallortigara, Giorgio
2024-01-01

Abstract

Whether non-symbolic encoding of quantity is predisposed at birth with dedicated hard-wired neural circuits is debated. Here we presented newlyhatched visually naive chicks with stimuli (flashing dots) of either identical or different numerousness (with a ratio 1:3) with their continuous physical appearance (size, contour length, density, convex hull) randomly changing. Chicks spontaneously tell apart the stimuli on the basis of the number of elements. Upon presentation of either fixed or changing numerousness chicks showed different expression of early gene c-fos in the visual Wulst, the hippocampal formation, the intermediate medial mesopallium, and the caudal part of the nidopallium caudolaterale. The results support the hypothesis that the ability to discriminate quantities does not require any specific instructive experience and involves a neural network with several populations of number-selective neurons. Evidence for innateness of non-symbolic numerical cognition have implications for both neurobiology and philosophy of mathematics.
2024
14
Lorenzi, Elena; Perrino, Matilde; Messina, Andrea; Zanon, Mirko; Vallortigara, Giorgio
Innate responses to numerousness reveal neural activation in different brain regions in newly-hatched visually naïve chicks / Lorenzi, Elena; Perrino, Matilde; Messina, Andrea; Zanon, Mirko; Vallortigara, Giorgio. - In: HELIYON. - ISSN 2405-8440. - 10:14(2024). [10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34162]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11572/439715
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