PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kell, Alexander J.E.
AU  - Bokor, Sophie L.
AU  - Jeon, You-Nah
AU  - Toosi, Tahereh
AU  - Issa, Elias B.
TI  - Conserved core visual object recognition across simian primates: Marmoset image-by-image behavior mirrors that of humans and macaques
AID  - 10.1101/2020.10.19.345561
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.10.19.345561
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/20/2020.10.19.345561.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/20/2020.10.19.345561.full
AB  - We report that the marmoset, a 300-gram simian primate with a flat cortex, performs a challenging high-level perceptual task in a strikingly human-like manner. Across the same set of 400 images, marmosets’ image-by-image core object recognition behavior was highly similar to that of humans—and was nearly as human-like as was macaques’ (r=0.73 vs. r=0.77). Separately, we found that marmosets’ visual abilities far outstripped those of rodents—marmosets substantially outperformed rats and generalized in a far more robust manner across images. Thus, core aspects of visual perception are conserved across simian primates, and marmosets may be a powerful small model organism for high-level visual neuroscience.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.