Asian Elephants Could Be the Math Kings of the Jungle

Summary: Researchers report Asian elephants appear to possess numerical abilities similar to humans.

Source: Springer.

Asian elephants demonstrate numeric ability which is closer to that observed in humans rather than in other animals. This is according to lead author Naoko Irie of SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) in Japan. In a study published in the Springer-branded Journal of Ethology, Irie and her colleagues found that an Asian elephants’ sense of numbers is not affected by distance, magnitude or ratios of presented numerosities, and therefore provides initial experimental evidence that non-human animals have cognitive characteristics similar to human counting.

Previous research has shown that many animals have some form of numerical competence, even though they do not use language. However, this numerical ability is mainly based on inaccurate quantity instead of absolute numbers. In this study, the researchers aimed to replicate the results of previous research that already showed that Asian elephants have exceptional numeric competence.

Irie and her colleagues developed a new method to test how well the animals can judge relative quantity. They successfully trained a 14-year old Asian elephant called Authai from the Ueno Zoo in Japan to use a computer-controlled touch panel. The programme was specifically designed to examine the cognition of elephants, so that any unintended factors potentially influencing the results could be ruled out. Authai was presented with a relative numerosity judgment task on the screen, and then had to indicate with the tip of her trunk which one of the two figures shown to her at a time contained more items. These ranged from 0 to 10 items, and contained pictures of bananas, watermelons and apples. The fruit were not all presented in the same size, to ensure that Authai did not make her choices purely on the total area that was covered with illustrations per card.

Authai was rewarded whenever she chose the figures featuring the larger number of items. This she did correctly 181 out of 271 times – a success rate of 66.8 per cent. Her ability to accurately pinpoint the figure with the most fruits on it was not affected by the magnitude, distance or ratio of the comparisons. Authai’s reaction time was, however, influenced by the distance and ratio between the two figures presented. She needed significantly more time to make her selection between figures where relatively smaller distances and larger ratios were presented.

an asian elephant
This is Authai using the touch screen. NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Ethological Society and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2018.

“We found that her performance was unaffected by distance, magnitude, or the ratios of the presented numerosities, but consistent with observations of human counting, she required a longer time to respond to comparisons with smaller distances,” explains Irie. “This study provides the first experimental evidence that nonhuman animals have cognitive characteristics partially identical to human counting.”

According to Irie, this is not an ability that the Asian elephant shares with the two species of African elephants. She says that because the species diverged more than 7.6 million years ago, it is highly probable that each developed different cognitive abilities.

About this neuroscience research article

Source: Erica Lorenzoni – Springer
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Ethological Society and Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature 2018.
Original Research: Open access research for “Unique numerical competence of Asian elephants on the relative numerosity judgment task” by Naoko Irie, Mariko Hiraiwa-Hasegawa, and Nobuyuki Kutsukake in Journal of Ethology. Published October 22 2018.
doi:10.1007/s10164-018-0563-y

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[cbtabs][cbtab title=”MLA”]Springer”Asian Elephants Could Be the Math Kings of the Jungle.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 22 October 2018.
<https://neurosciencenews.com/asian-elephant-math-10072/>.[/cbtab][cbtab title=”APA”]Springer(2018, October 22). Asian Elephants Could Be the Math Kings of the Jungle. NeuroscienceNews. Retrieved October 22, 2018 from https://neurosciencenews.com/asian-elephant-math-10072/[/cbtab][cbtab title=”Chicago”]Springer”Asian Elephants Could Be the Math Kings of the Jungle.” https://neurosciencenews.com/asian-elephant-math-10072/ (accessed October 22, 2018).[/cbtab][/cbtabs]


Abstract

Unique numerical competence of Asian elephants on the relative numerosity judgment task

Many animals demonstrate numerical competence even without language. However, their representation is mainly based on inaccurate quantity instead of absolute numbers. Thus, their performance on numerical tasks is affected by the distance, magnitude, and the ratio of comparisons (i.e., as distance decreases, magnitudes increase, or as ratios increase the accuracy of discrimination decreases). We report that Asian elephants’ numerical representation is quite different from that of other animals. We trained three Asian elephants to use a touch-panel apparatus and one female successfully learned to use the apparatus. Next, a relative numerosity judgment task was presented on the screen and the elephant was asked to touch, with the tip of her trunk, the figures with the larger numbers of items. The numbers of items in each figure ranged from 0 to 10. We found that her performance was unaffected by distance, magnitude, or the ratios of the presented numerosities but, consistent with observations of human counting, she required a longer time to respond to comparisons with smaller distances. This study provides the first experimental evidence that nonhuman animals have cognitive characteristics partially identical to human counting.

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