We propose a new approach to the study of inferential learning by investigating how monkeys and humans infer implicit serial relationships during training on a Transitive Inference (TI) paradigm. TI implies the ability to conclude that A C if A > B and B > C. This logic can be extended to any number of items as long as their relationships obey transitivity. TI has been shown to exist in species as diverse as pigeons, monkeys, and humans and is thought to be essential for understanding complex social relationships such as dominance hierarchies. TI is also critical for understanding ordinal relationships, which, by definition, obey transitivity. Linear spatial relationships also obey transitivity (if A is to the left of B, and B is to the left of C, then A is to the left of C). Hene, it has been proposed that TI may be related to spatial representations that inhabit a virtual workspace. The idea is that one can imagine adjacent items in an ordered list as occupying neighboring positions on an imaginary line. Thus, ordinal relationships that seem abstract may in fact be mapped onto existing spatial representations. To test this, we plan to investigate the learning and representation of ordinal relationships among novel stimuli in regions of parietal and prefrontal cortex that are believed to be involved in representing spatial information, especially relative spatial position. These are the first experiments to investigate the acquisition of implict inference at the behavioral level that is synchronized to simultaneous measurement of the activity of individual brain cells throughout TI learning (including acquisition). Ours are signifiant because they provide the first neurological investigation of implicit serial learning in a non-human primate that is not confounded by spatial or temporal cues. From a physiologist's perspective, areas LIP and SEF have been shown to encode both spatial and abstract qualities of visual stimuli. There is, however, no theoretical framework that integrates these different representations. We propose to test the idea that a virtual workspace may account for both spatial and non-spatial coding in LIP and SEF. Health Relatedness: These experiments are relevant to Schizophrenia, Autism, Alzheimer's disease, and other conditions whose patient populations have deficits in their performance of TI problems.

Public Health Relevance

The goal of this project is to investigate how humans and monkeys learn and represent information about serial order by using inferential reasoning. We propose that serial order may be represented in a virtual workspace that integrates spatial and non-spatial coding in parietal and prefrontal cortex. Health Relatedness: These experiments are relevant to Schizophrenia, Autism, Alzheimer's disease, and other conditions whose patient populations have deficits on inferential reasoning problems.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
4R01MH081153-08
Application #
9067518
Study Section
Biobehavioral Regulation, Learning and Ethology Study Section (BRLE)
Program Officer
Rossi, Andrew
Project Start
2007-07-01
Project End
2018-03-31
Budget Start
2016-04-01
Budget End
2017-03-31
Support Year
8
Fiscal Year
2016
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Department
Neurosciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
621889815
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10032
Tanner, Natalie; Jensen, Greg; Ferrera, Vincent P et al. (2017) Inferential Learning of Serial Order of Perceptual Categories by Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta). J Neurosci 37:6268-6276
Jensen, Greg; Alkan, Yelda; Muñoz, Fabian et al. (2017) Transitive inference in humans (Homo sapiens) and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) after massed training of the last two list items. J Comp Psychol 131:231-245
Altschul, Drew M; Terrace, Herbert S; Weiss, Alexander (2016) Serial Cognition and Personality in Macaques. Anim Behav Cogn 3:46-64
Jensen, Greg; Altschul, Drew (2015) Two perils of binary categorization: why the study of concepts can't afford true/false testing. Front Psychol 6:168
Jensen, Greg; Muñoz, Fabian; Alkan, Yelda et al. (2015) Implicit Value Updating Explains Transitive Inference Performance: The Betasort Model. PLoS Comput Biol 11:e1004523
Gupta, Aakriti; Wang, Yongfei; Spertus, John A et al. (2014) Trends in acute myocardial infarction in young patients and differences by sex and race, 2001 to 2010. J Am Coll Cardiol 64:337-45
Avdagic, Ema; Jensen, Greg; Altschul, Drew et al. (2014) Rapid cognitive flexibility of rhesus macaques performing psychophysical task-switching. Anim Cogn 17:619-31
Morgan, Gin; Kornell, Nate; Kornblum, Tamar et al. (2014) Retrospective and prospective metacognitive judgments in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Anim Cogn 17:249-57
Merritt, Dustin J; Terrace, Herbert S (2011) Mechanisms of inferential order judgments in humans (Homo sapiens) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). J Comp Psychol 125:227-38
Scarf, Damian; Danly, Erin; Morgan, Gin et al. (2011) Sequential planning in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Anim Cogn 14:317-24

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