Rosa Rugani | University of Padova (original) (raw)
Uploads
Papers by Rosa Rugani
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 2005
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jul 3, 2023
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The “mental number line” (MNL) is a form of spatial numeric representation that associates small ... more The “mental number line” (MNL) is a form of spatial numeric representation that associates small and large numbers with the left and right spaces, respectively. This spatio-numeric organization can be found in adult humans and has been related to cultural factors such as writing and reading habits. Yet, both human newborns and birds order numbers consistently with an MNL, thus raising the question of whether culture is a main explanation for MNL. Here, we explored the numeric sense of honey bees and show that after being trained to associate numbers with a sucrose reward, they order numbers not previously experienced from left to right according to their magnitude. Importantly, the location of a number on that scale varies with the reference number previously trained and does not depend on low-level cues present on numeric stimuli. We provide a series of neural explanations for this effect based on the extensive knowledge accumulated on the neural underpinnings of visual processing ...
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, Feb 3, 2023
Symmetry
Baby chicks and other animals including human infants master simple arithmetic. They discriminate... more Baby chicks and other animals including human infants master simple arithmetic. They discriminate 2 vs. 3 (1 + 1 vs. 1 + 1 + 1) but fail with 3 vs. 4 (1 + 1 + 1 vs. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1). Performance is restored when elements are grouped as 2 + 1 vs. 2 + 2. Here, we address whether grouping could lead to asymmetric response bias. We recoded behavioural data from a previous study, in which separate groups of four-day-old domestic chicks underwent an arithmetic task: when the objects were presented one-by-one (1 + 1 + 1 vs. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1), chicks failed in locating the larger group irrespective of its position and did not show any side bias; Experiment 1. When the objects were presented as grouped (2 + 1 vs. 2 + 2), chicks succeeded, performing better when the larger set was on their left; Experiment 2. A similar leftward bias was also observed with harder discriminations (4 vs. 5: 3 + 1 vs. 3 + 2), with baby chicks succeeding in the task only when the larger set was on the left (Experim...
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00150 Lateralized mechanisms for encoding of object. Behavioral evidence ... more doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00150 Lateralized mechanisms for encoding of object. Behavioral evidence from an animal model: the domestic chick (Gallus gallus)
The Cambridge Handbook of Animal Cognition
Animals show vast numerical competence in tasks that require both ordinal and cardinal numerical ... more Animals show vast numerical competence in tasks that require both ordinal and cardinal numerical representations, but few studies have addressed whether animals can identify the numerical middle in a sequence. Two rhesus monkeys (<i>Macaca mulatta</i>) learned to select the middle dot in a horizontal sequence of three dots on a touchscreen. When subsequently presented with longer sequences composed of 5, 7 or 9 items, monkeys transferred the middle rule. Accuracy decreased as the length of the sequence increased. In a second test, we presented monkeys with asymmetrical sequences composed by nine items, where the numerical and spatial middle were distinct and both monkeys selected the numerical middle over the spatial middle. Our results demonstrate that rhesus macaques can extract an abstract numerical rule to bisect a discrete set of items.
S2. Distribution of the responses on the Asymmetrical Test. Monkeys directed their responses on t... more S2. Distribution of the responses on the Asymmetrical Test. Monkeys directed their responses on the middle item and mistakes were concentrated on the adjacent item to its right.
Acta Psychologica, 2022
Francis Galton first reported that humans mentally organize numbers from left to right on a menta... more Francis Galton first reported that humans mentally organize numbers from left to right on a mental number line (1880). This spatial-numerical association was long considered to result from writing and reading habits. More recently though, newborns and animals showed a left-to-right oriented spatial numerical association challenging the primary role assigned to culture in determining the link between number and space. Despite growing evidence supporting the intrinsic association between number and space in different species, its adaptive value is still largely unknown. Here we tested for an advantage in identification of left versus right target positions in 3- to 6-year-old children. Children watched as a toy was hidden under one of 10 linearly arranged identical cups and were then asked to help a stuffed animal retrieve the toy. On each trial, the toy was hidden in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th cup, from the left or right. To prevent children from staring at the target cup, they were asked to pick up the stuffed animal from under their chair after witnessing the hiding of the toy and then to help the stuffed animal find the toy. Older children were more accurate than younger children. Children exhibited a serial position effect, with performance higher for more exterior targets. Remarkably, children also showed a left bias: they remembered the left targets better than the right targets. Only the youngest children were dramatically influenced by the location of the experimenter during search. Additional analyses support the hypothesis that children used a left-to-right oriented searching strategy in this spatial/ordinal task.
Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis, 2005
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Jul 3, 2023
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
The “mental number line” (MNL) is a form of spatial numeric representation that associates small ... more The “mental number line” (MNL) is a form of spatial numeric representation that associates small and large numbers with the left and right spaces, respectively. This spatio-numeric organization can be found in adult humans and has been related to cultural factors such as writing and reading habits. Yet, both human newborns and birds order numbers consistently with an MNL, thus raising the question of whether culture is a main explanation for MNL. Here, we explored the numeric sense of honey bees and show that after being trained to associate numbers with a sucrose reward, they order numbers not previously experienced from left to right according to their magnitude. Importantly, the location of a number on that scale varies with the reference number previously trained and does not depend on low-level cues present on numeric stimuli. We provide a series of neural explanations for this effect based on the extensive knowledge accumulated on the neural underpinnings of visual processing ...
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, Feb 3, 2023
Symmetry
Baby chicks and other animals including human infants master simple arithmetic. They discriminate... more Baby chicks and other animals including human infants master simple arithmetic. They discriminate 2 vs. 3 (1 + 1 vs. 1 + 1 + 1) but fail with 3 vs. 4 (1 + 1 + 1 vs. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1). Performance is restored when elements are grouped as 2 + 1 vs. 2 + 2. Here, we address whether grouping could lead to asymmetric response bias. We recoded behavioural data from a previous study, in which separate groups of four-day-old domestic chicks underwent an arithmetic task: when the objects were presented one-by-one (1 + 1 + 1 vs. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1), chicks failed in locating the larger group irrespective of its position and did not show any side bias; Experiment 1. When the objects were presented as grouped (2 + 1 vs. 2 + 2), chicks succeeded, performing better when the larger set was on their left; Experiment 2. A similar leftward bias was also observed with harder discriminations (4 vs. 5: 3 + 1 vs. 3 + 2), with baby chicks succeeding in the task only when the larger set was on the left (Experim...
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00150 Lateralized mechanisms for encoding of object. Behavioral evidence ... more doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00150 Lateralized mechanisms for encoding of object. Behavioral evidence from an animal model: the domestic chick (Gallus gallus)
The Cambridge Handbook of Animal Cognition
Animals show vast numerical competence in tasks that require both ordinal and cardinal numerical ... more Animals show vast numerical competence in tasks that require both ordinal and cardinal numerical representations, but few studies have addressed whether animals can identify the numerical middle in a sequence. Two rhesus monkeys (<i>Macaca mulatta</i>) learned to select the middle dot in a horizontal sequence of three dots on a touchscreen. When subsequently presented with longer sequences composed of 5, 7 or 9 items, monkeys transferred the middle rule. Accuracy decreased as the length of the sequence increased. In a second test, we presented monkeys with asymmetrical sequences composed by nine items, where the numerical and spatial middle were distinct and both monkeys selected the numerical middle over the spatial middle. Our results demonstrate that rhesus macaques can extract an abstract numerical rule to bisect a discrete set of items.
S2. Distribution of the responses on the Asymmetrical Test. Monkeys directed their responses on t... more S2. Distribution of the responses on the Asymmetrical Test. Monkeys directed their responses on the middle item and mistakes were concentrated on the adjacent item to its right.
Acta Psychologica, 2022
Francis Galton first reported that humans mentally organize numbers from left to right on a menta... more Francis Galton first reported that humans mentally organize numbers from left to right on a mental number line (1880). This spatial-numerical association was long considered to result from writing and reading habits. More recently though, newborns and animals showed a left-to-right oriented spatial numerical association challenging the primary role assigned to culture in determining the link between number and space. Despite growing evidence supporting the intrinsic association between number and space in different species, its adaptive value is still largely unknown. Here we tested for an advantage in identification of left versus right target positions in 3- to 6-year-old children. Children watched as a toy was hidden under one of 10 linearly arranged identical cups and were then asked to help a stuffed animal retrieve the toy. On each trial, the toy was hidden in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th cup, from the left or right. To prevent children from staring at the target cup, they were asked to pick up the stuffed animal from under their chair after witnessing the hiding of the toy and then to help the stuffed animal find the toy. Older children were more accurate than younger children. Children exhibited a serial position effect, with performance higher for more exterior targets. Remarkably, children also showed a left bias: they remembered the left targets better than the right targets. Only the youngest children were dramatically influenced by the location of the experimenter during search. Additional analyses support the hypothesis that children used a left-to-right oriented searching strategy in this spatial/ordinal task.