title: Coding of cognitive magnitude: compressed scaling of numerical information in the primate prefrontal cortex.
abstract: Whether cognitive representations are better conceived as language-based, symbolic representations or perceptually related, analog representations is a subject of debate. If cognitive processes parallel perceptual processes, then fundamental psychophysical laws should hold for each. To test this, we analyzed both behavioral and neuronal representations of numerosity in the prefrontal cortex of rhesus monkeys. The data were best described by a nonlinearly compressed scaling of numerical information, as postulated by the Weber-Fechner law or Stevens' law for psychophysical/sensory magnitudes. This nonlinear compression was observed on the neural level during the acquisition phase of the task and maintained through the memory phase with no further compression. These results suggest that certain cognitive and perceptual/sensory representations share the same fundamental mechanisms and neural coding schemes.
authors.affiliation: Picower Center for Learning and Memory, RIKEN-MIT Neuroscience Research Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. nieder@mit.edu
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nieder
authors.forename: Earl K
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D013561:Symbolism