The Development of Numerical Competence Animal and Human Models

About this book

The area of animal counting has historically been the subject of a long and colourful debate, but only more recently have systematic, more rigorous experimental efforts to evaluate numerical abilities in animals been undertaken. This volume contains chapters from investigators in a range of disciplines with interests in comparative cognition. The studies described characterize the emergence of number-related abilities in rats, pigeons, chimpanzees, and humans, bringing together – for the first time in one volume – the rich diversity of cognitive capabilities demonstrated throughout many species. The data and theoretical perspectives shared will likely serve to provoke much thought and discussion among comparative psychologists and fuel new research and interest in the field of animal cognition.

Contents

Part I: Empirical Approaches to Counting (or Numerical Competence) in Animals
- Invisible Counting Animals: A History of Contributions from Comparative Psychology, Ethology, and Learning Theory / M. Rilling
- Counting in Chimpanzees: Nonhuman Principles and Emergent Properties of Number / S.T. Boysen
- Numerosity as a Dimension of Stimulus Control / W.K. Honig
- Counting by Chimpanzees and Ordinality Judgments by Macaques in Video-Formatted Tasks / D.M. Rumbaugh, D.A. Washburn

Part II: Counting: Criteria and Relations to Basic Processes
- Numerical Competence in Animals: Life Beyond Clever Hans / H. Davis
- Numerical Competence in Animals: A Conservative View / R.K. Thomas, R.B. Lorden
- Do Animals Subitize? / D.J. Miller
- Quantitative Relationships Between Timing and Counting / H.A. Broadbent, R.M. Church, W.H. Meck, B.C. Rakitin

Part III: Counting in Humans and Animals: Theoretical Perspectives
- Animal Number Abilities: Implications for a Hierarchical Approach to Instrumental Learning / E.J. Capaldi
- A Conceptual Framework for the Study of Numerical Estimation and Arithmetic Reasoning in Animals / C.R. Gallistel
- Reflections on Number and Counting / E. von Glasersfeld
- Chunking, Familiarity, and Serial Order in Counting / W.A. Wickelgren

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