Do monkeys show evidence of mental number line?

What is it about?

We tested monkeys to see if they showed any evidence of a spatial coordination with quantity. In humans, sometimes numbers or other magnitudes are arranged in a left-to-right (or right-to-left) orientation. A recent study with newborn chicks showed that they also may organize these magnitudes spatially. We attempted to conceptually replicate and extend this result. However, we found only limited evidence that monkeys showed this so-called SNARC effect in their responses to two computerized tasks.

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Why is it important?

Comparative approaches to perception, categorization, and stimulus discrimination are important to understand the basic nature of cognitive processes. SNARC effects for humans could have important implications for education and other areas of quantitative cognition. Understanding the potential evolutionary bases for these things can aid in a fuller understanding of this area of human cognition.