title: Evidence for a non-linguistic distinction between singular and plural sets in rhesus monkeys.
abstract: Set representations are explicitly expressed in natural language. For example, many languages distinguish between sets and subsets (all vs. some), as well as between singular and plural sets (a cat vs. some cats). Three experiments explored the hypothesis that these representations are language specific, and thus absent from the conceptual resources of non-linguistic animals. We found that rhesus monkeys spontaneously discriminate sets based on a conceptual singular-plural distinction. Under conditions that do not elicit comparisons based on approximate magnitudes or one-to-one correspondence, rhesus monkeys distinguished between singular and plural sets (1 vs. 2 and 1 vs. 5), but not between two plural sets (2 vs. 3, 2 vs. 4, and 2 vs. 5). These results suggest that set-relational distinctions are not a privileged part of natural language, and may have evolved in non-linguistic species to support domain general quantitative computations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, Rm. 4020, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ont., Canada M5S 3G3. david.barner@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barner
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003210:Concept Formation; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005260:Female; D007804:Language Development; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012660:Semantics; D012718:Set, Psychology