The DOI matches its Crossref record; 38 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Putting the elephant back in the herd: elephant relative quantity judgments match those of other species
Abstract
The ability to discriminate between quantities has been observed in many species. Typically, when an animal is given a choice between two sets of food, accurate performance (i.e., choosing the larger amount) decreases as the ratio between two quantities increases. A recent study reported that elephants did not exhibit ratio effects, suggesting that elephants may process quantitative information in a qualitatively different way from all other nonhuman species that have been tested (Irie-Sugimoto et al. in Anim Cogn 12:193-199, 2009). However, the results of this study were confounded by several methodological issues. We tested two African elephants (Loxodonta africana) to more thoroughly investigate relative quantity judgment in this species. In contrast to the previous study, we found evidence of ratio effects for visible and nonvisible sequentially presented sets of food. Thus, elephants appear to represent and compare quantities in much the same way as other species, including humans when they are prevented from counting. Performance supports an accumulator model in which quantities are represented as analog magnitudes. Furthermore, we found no effect of absolute magnitude on performance, providing support against an object-file model explanation of quantity judgment.
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“both Asian and African savanna elephants can discriminate between different quantities of food using both or either visual and/or auditory cues (when baits were dropped into a container; Irie-Sugimoto et al., 2009; Perdue et al., 2012; Snyder et al., 2021).”
From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as Perdue et al., 2012
In the citing paper
“However, other studies on elephant quantity discrimination have found different results, which were consistent with the accumulator model (Perdue et al., 2012; Plotnik et al., 2019; Snyder et al., 2021).”
From Do elephants really never forget? What we know about elephant memory and a call for further investigation (2025) · cites this paper as Perdue et al., 2012
Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Perdue, B. M., Talbot, C. F., Stone, A. M., & Beran, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Georgia State University (US)
- Zoo Atlanta (US)
- Corresponding author
- Perdue, Bonnie M.
- Venue
- Animal Cognition
- Published
- 2012-06-13
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 955-961
- ISSN
- 1435-9448 (ISSN-L)
- 1435-9456
- OpenAlex
- W1976535853
- Cited by
- 115
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 13.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Animal Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P01HD060563)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Keywords
- ratio effect, number sense, elephants, Loxodonta africana, accumulator model, absolute magnitude, numerical cognition, comparative cognition
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Choice Behavior, Discrimination, Psychological, Elephants, Female, Judgment, Photic Stimulation
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