Bees can link symbols to numbers, study finds

Date:  June 5, 2019

Source:  RMIT University

We've learned bees can understand zero and do basic math, and now a new study shows their tiny insect brains may be capable of connecting symbols to numbers.

Researchers have trained honeybees to match a character to a specific quantity, revealing they are able to learn that a symbol represents a numerical amount.

It's a finding that sheds new light on how numerical abilities may have evolved over millennia and even opens new possibilities for communication between humans and other species.

The discovery, from the same Australian-French team that found bees get the concept of zero and can do simple arithmetic, also points to new approaches for bio-inspired computing that can replicate the brain's highly efficient approach to processing.

The RMIT University-led study is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Associate Professor Adrian Dyer said while humans were the only species to have developed systems to represent numbers, like the Arabic numerals we use each day, the research shows the concept can be grasped by brains far smaller than ours.

"We take it for granted once we've learned our numbers as children, but being able to recognise what '4' represents actually requires a sophisticated level of cognitive ability," Dyer said.

"Studies have shown primates and birds can also learn to link symbols with numbers, but this is the first time we've seen this in insects.

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Guppies: Study sorts the maths whizzes from the dunces

Heightened sense of mathematical concepts enhances 'survival of the fittest' among fish Date: December 5, 2016
Source: Springer

Some guppies have a better sense of maths than others. It allows some to find the biggest shoal possible in which to be protected against predators, while others are better at choosing fruitful foraging ground. This is according to research conducted by Tyrone Lucon-Xiccato and Marco Dadda of the University of Padova in Italy in Springer's journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

It is well known that some people and animals such as chimpanzees and African grey parrots are simply better at solving mathematical and numerical problems than others. It helps them compare and distinguish between quantities, and to make decisions accordingly to adapt to their surroundings. Because very little work has so far been done to establish whether individual animals belonging to different species also possess such enhanced mental abilities, Lucon-Xiccato and Dadda turned to guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Theirs is the first study of its kind on fish. Three quantity discrimination tests were set to 26 guppies kept under laboratory conditions.

For guppies, safety in numbers is important. Living together in shoals provides them with better protection against predators. To find out if these fish can distinguish between bigger and smaller shoals, individual guppies were introduced to a new tank that provided no cover or refuge, but in which shoals of either four or six others swam. Two foraging tasks were also set. In the one, the fish had to choose between four or six food items, and in the other between different-sized bites.



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Monkey Math: Baboons Show Brain's Ability to Understand Numbers

May 3, 2013 — Opposing thumbs, expressive faces, complex social systems: it's hard to miss the similarities between apes and humans. Now a new study with a troop of zoo baboons and lots of peanuts shows that a less obvious trait -- the ability to understand numbers -- also is shared by humans and their primate cousins. 

"The human capacity for complex symbolic math is clearly unique to our species," says co-author Jessica Cantlon, assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. "But where did this numeric prowess come from? In this study we've shown that non-human primates also possess basic quantitative abilities. In fact, non-human primates can be as accurate at discriminating between different quantities as a human child." 

"This tells us that non-human primates have in common with humans a fundamental ability to make approximate quantity judgments," says Cantlon. "Humans build on this talent by learning number words and developing a linguistic system of numbers, but in the absence of language and counting, complex math abilities do still exist." 

Continued: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130503132719.htm