IUBio

Brains: Man vs.Chimp

Kentridge Robert.Kentridge at durham.ac.uk
Thu Jul 27 04:08:39 EST 1995


In article <1995Jul25.195317.29947 at alw.nih.gov>, arm at helix (Andrew_R._Mitz) writes:
|> suzanne smith (suzannes at vir.com) wrote:
|> : kspencer at s.psych.uiuc.edu (Kevin Spencer) wrote:
|> : >
|> : > jps at phantom.com (Jeffrey Soros) writes:
|> : > 
|> : > >At present I'm looking for information that describes the differences and 
|> : > >similarities between human brains and those of chimps and other 
|> : > >primates.  I'm particularly interested in instances where the human brain 
|> : > >would NOT  be considered superior. Any info or suggested avenues for 
|> : > >research would be tremendously appreciated.

	stuff removed

|> : Similarly, although it does not have to do so much with innate
|> : anatomical differences but rather with the upbringing, chimps are
|> : less likely (although I don't have references for you) to confuse
|> : the size of two lengths as humans do when the "arrows" at the tip
|> : of the line point in different directions.  I.e. we would say
|> : that line A is shorter than B whereas a chimp would not:
|> 
|> :                    >------<    line A
|> :  
|> :                    <------>    line B
|> 
|> I think you are wrong here. If you have a reference, I would like
|> to see it.  We are about to use a similar "compelling" optical
|> ilusion on a rhesus monkey.
|> 
|> 
|> : Ray
|> : rbourgeois at dawsoncollege.qc.ca
|> 
|> 
|> --
|> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|> Andrew Mitz, Biomedical Eng., National Institutes | Opinions are mine alone 
|> of Health Animal Center, Poolesville, MD          | arm at helix.nih.gov       
|> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------


	I recall seeing evidence that fish were also subject to this illusion.
I think it was in Against Direct Perception by Shimon Ullman in Behavioral and
Brain Sciences about 10 years ago or in one of the commentaries on it.  The
argument was that the illusion was due to differences in the spread of 
excitation (or lack of lateral inhibition) at the end arrows.

				cheers,
					bob
-- 
	Dr. R.W. Kentridge	phone: +44 91 374 2621
	Psychology Dept.,	email: robert.kentridge at durham.ac.uk
	University of Durham,
	Durham DH1 3LE, U.K.



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