Can animals count?
Research co-led by neuroscientists Professor Yung Wing-ho from City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) and Professor Ke Ya from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Faculty of Medicine (CU Medicine) has made a groundbreaking discovery regarding number sense in animals by confirming the existence of discrete number sense in rats, offering a crucial animal model for investigating the neural basis of numerical ability and disability in humans.
The research team has developed an innovative approach that employs a novel numerical learning task, brain manipulation techniques and artificial intelligence modelling, and that resolves an ongoing argument about whether rats have a sense of numbers. The study sheds light on the mechanisms underlying numerical ability. The findings have been published in the renowned multidisciplinary scientific journal Science Advances.
