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| Research article summary (published 27 Jul 2003): |
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Visual categorization: accessing abstraction in non-human primates.
Full Abstract
Evolution might have set the basic foundations for abstract mental representation long ago. Because of language, mental abilities would have reached different degrees of sophistication in mammals and in humans but would be, essentially, of the same nature. Thus, humans and animals might rely on the same basic mechanisms that could be masked in humans by the use of sophisticated strategies. In this paper, monkey and human abilities are compared in a variety of perceptual tasks including visual categorization to assess behavioural similarities and dissimilarities, and to determine the level of abstraction of monkeys' mental representations. The question of how these abstract representations might be encoded in the brain is then addressed. A comparative study of the neural processing underlying abstract cognitive operations in animals and humans might help to understand when abstraction emerged in the phylogenetic scale, and how it increased in complexity.
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Author information
Author/s: Fabre-Thorpe, Michèle (M);
Affiliation: Centre de Recherche Cerveau and Cognition (UMR 5549, CNRS-UPS), Facultè de Médecine de Rangueil, 133 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France. michele.fabre-thorpe(-atsign-)cerco.ups-tlse.fr
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article
Journal: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences (Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci), published in England. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Jul; vol 358 (issue 1435) : pp 1215-23
Dates: Created 2003/08/06; Completed 2003/09/23; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 12903657, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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