Number neurons in the nidopallium of young domestic chicks

Abstract

Numerical cognition is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom. Domestic chicks are a widely used developmental model for studying numerical cognition. Soon after hatching, chicks can perform sophisticated numerical tasks. Nevertheless, the neural basis of their numerical abilities has remained unknown. Here, we describe number neurons in the caudal nidopallium (functionally equivalent to the mammalian prefrontal cortex) of young domestic chicks. Number neurons that we found in young chicks showed remarkable similarities to those in the prefrontal cortex and caudal nidopallium of adult animals. Thus, our results suggest that numerosity perception based on number neurons might be an inborn feature of the vertebrate brain.