Role of vibrissae for depth perception in the rat (Rattus norvegicus).
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of the vibrissae in visual cliff performance of rats was investigated and it was shown that tactual cues are prepotent over visual ones for the rat when conflicting information from both sensory modalities is present.
About: This article is published in Animal Behaviour.The article was published on 1970-05-01. It has received 106 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Visual cliff.
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TL;DR: Glass microelectrodes were used to record extracellular responses from 308 SI cortical neurons to deflections of the contralateral vibrissae in 21 unanesthetized, paralyzed rats, finding that FSs responded more reliably and over a broader range of frequencies than did RSUs, particularly in layer IV.
Abstract: 1. Glass microelectrodes were used to record extracellular responses from 308 SI cortical neurons to deflections of the contralateral vibrissae in 21 unanesthetized, paralyzed rats. Controlled defl...
791 citations
TL;DR: Recent evidence is presented about how the brain constructs a representation of the surrounding world through whisker-mediated sense of touch and how the transformation of one representation to another is achieved.
Abstract: In the visual system of primates, different neuronal pathways are specialized for processing information about the spatial coordinates of objects and their identity — that is, 'where' and 'what'. By contrast, rats and other nocturnal animals build up a neuronal representation of 'where' and 'what' by seeking out and palpating objects with their whiskers. We present recent evidence about how the brain constructs a representation of the surrounding world through whisker-mediated sense of touch. While considerable knowledge exists about the representation of the physical properties of stimuli — like texture, shape and position — we know little about how the brain represents their meaning. Future research may elucidate this and show how the transformation of one representation to another is achieved.
547 citations
TL;DR: A synthesis of morphological and behavioral data led to the following functional concept: the mystacial macrovibrissae row is a distance decoder, whose function is to derive head centered obstacle/opening contours at the various dorsoventral angles represented by vibrissal rows.
463 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a consistent vocabulary and theoretical framework for evaluating numerical competence in animals is proposed, where relative numerousness judgments, subitizing, counting, and estimation may be the essential processes by which animals perform numerical discriminations.
Abstract: Numerical competence is one of the many aspects of animal cognition that have enjoyed a resurgence of interest during the past decade. Evidence for numerical abilities in animals has followed a tortuous path to respectability, however, from Clever Hans, the counting horse, to modern experimental studies. Recent surveys of the literaturereveal theoretical as well as definitional confusion arising from inconsistent terminology for numerical processes and procedures. The term “counting” has been applied to situations having little to do with its meaning in the human literature. We propose a consistent vocabulary and theoretical framework for evaluating numerical competence. Relative numerousness judgments, subitizing, counting, and estimation may be the essential processes by which animals perform numerical discriminations. Ordinality, cardinality, and transitivity also play an important role in these processes. Our schema is applied to a variety of recent experimental situations. Some evidence of transfer is essential in demonstrating higher-order ability such as counting or “sense of number.” Those instances of numerical competence in which all viable alternatives to counting (e.g., subitizing) have been precluded, but no evidence of transfer has been demonstrated might be described as “protocounting.” To show that animals are capable of “true” counting future research will have to demonstrate generality across situations.
451 citations
TL;DR: Rats learned to discriminate between two degrees of roughness, detecting the stimuli only with their vibrissal system, and after bilateral trimming of the vibrissae, performance abruptly dropped to chance levels and remained there throughout the period in which the vibrISSae were kept trimmed.
247 citations
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01 Jan 1961
310 citations
24 citations
18 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the role of tactual cues in depth discrimination was examined on a visual cliff and the results indicated that the adult rat will use tactual information for depth discrimination on the visual cliff, and the degree of its use varies with its availability.
Abstract: The visual cliff apparatus was used to examine the role of tactual cues in depth discrimination. The height of the centerboard and the presence or absence of the glass surface covering the deep and shallow sides were varied. In general, the results indicate that the adult rat will use tactual information for depth discrimination on the visual cliff and that the degree of its use varies with its availability.
6 citations