Horses (Equus caballus) select the greater of two quantities in small numerical contrasts |
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Authors: | Claudia Uller Jennifer Lewis |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Essex, CO4 3SQ, UK |
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Abstract: | The ability to select the greater numerosity over another in small sets seems to stem from the calculation of which set contains
more, and has been taken as evidence of a primordial representation at the roots of the primate numerical system. We tested
56 horses (Equus caballus) in a paradigm previously used with human infants and nonhuman primates. Horses saw two quantities paired in contrasts—2
versus 1, 3 versus 2, 6 versus 4 and a control for volume, 2 versus 1 big—and had to make a choice by snout touching the container
holding the numerosity selected. The horses spontaneously selected the greater of the two quantities when the numerosities
were small. These results add to evidence showing spontaneous quantity assessment in a variety of species.
To my brother Marcelo Uller (1964–2008), for whom the understanding of animals, through biomimetics, was the only way to understand
man-made engineering. |
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Keywords: | Quantity representation Horses Number discrimination |
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