A picture is worth a thousand words, especially when it triggers memories of the pictured object like a vacation photo. 2D visual stimuli, such as pictures seen in print media, television or online, is often how humans acquire knowledge about real-world items. In such formats, the 2D stimuli act as symbols of the actual physical item.
The ability to perceive that a 2D picture of an object corresponds to its 3D physical form or “picture-to-object equivalence” is a cognitive function thought to be exclusive to higher-order species such as primates and some birds. It has been suggested that this “representational insight” may be beyond the ability of rodents or poses substantial problems in experimental design.
A study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University challenges this theory and provides the very first behavioral evidence that laboratory mice are capable of high-level…
