Intuitive statistics in non-human primates

Abstract

Fig 1. Schematic of basic set up Fig 3. shows animals‘ choice behavior as percent of animals who chose correct/incorrect out of 12 across all four experiments. In each experiment, animals chose the sample with the greater likelihood of containing their preferred item (Correct) significantly more often than the sample containing their non-preferred item (Incorrect). [1] Xu, F. & Garcia, V. (2008). Intuitive Statistics by 8-month-old infants. PNAS, 105, 5012-15. [2] Xu, F. & Denison, S. (2009). Statistical inference and sensitivity to sampling in 11-month-old infants.Cognition 112, 97-104. [3] Teglas, E., Girotto, V., Gonzalez, M.,& Bonatti, L.L. (2007). Intuitions of probabilities shape expectations about the future at 12 months and beyond. PNAS 104, 19156 -59. [4] Hauser, M., MacNeilage, P & Ware, M. (1996). Numerical representations in primates. PNAS 9, 1514-17. [5] Flombaum, J.I., Junge, J.A. & Hauser, M.D.(2005). Rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) spontaneously compute addition operations over large numbers. Cognition 97, 315 -25. Fig 2. Schematic of item distributions (banana pellets:carrot pieces) used in each experiment.