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On the generality and limits of abstraction in rats and humans

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Abstract

In this review, we address the question, central to cognition, of whether nonhuman animals such as rats are capable of extracting and extending information from a given learning situation to a new learning situation without generalizing through a physical dimension of the stimuli. This capacity underlies abstraction, which is a hallmark of human cognition and necessary for complex information processing such as language acquisition. We selectively review recent experiments with rats in which systematic changes in information processing of new stimuli are observed after training with different stimuli. These results strongly suggest that this capacity is present in rats. We also review two articles in which clear limitations to this capacity are detected. We conclude that, within specified limits, rats are capable of using prior experience when faced with a learning situation that involves new stimuli. We interpret this ability as a rudimentary form of abstraction. In the face of these provocative results, new theories of learning should be designed to account for these findings.

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Acknowledgments

National Institute of Mental Health Grant 33881 (RRM) supported the preparation of this review. The authors thank Eric Curtis, Jeremie Jozefowiez, Kenneth J. Kurtz, Mario Laborda, Bridget McConnell, Gonzalo Miguez, Cody Polack, and James Witnauer for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. We also wish to thank Derek C. Penn and three anonymous reviewers for insightful comments that have largely improved this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Gonzalo P. Urcelay or Ralph R. Miller.

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Urcelay, G.P., Miller, R.R. On the generality and limits of abstraction in rats and humans. Anim Cogn 13, 21–32 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-009-0295-z

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