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CNN Sites Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Free E­mail | Feedback MAINPAGE CNN Sites WORLD U.S. How we distinguish a cat from a dog Search WEATHER CNN.com BUSINESS January 12, 2001 SPORTS Web posted at: 3:56 PM EST (2056 GMT) TECHNOLOGY Find SPACE WASHINGTON (Reuters) ­­ It might NATURE HEALTH not seem like being able to tell a cat TOP STORIES from a dog is an important skill, but ENTERTAINMENT Worldwatch report: POLITICS researchers said Thursday they had Environmental movement LAW found monkeys have brain cells losing steam CAREER specifically assigned to the task and Scientific panel to look at TRAVEL people may, too. impact of Arctic drilling FOOD Republicans lining up against ARTS & STYLE The team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that individual expected new Sierra logging plan BOOKS neurons in the monkeys' brains became tuned to the concept of "cat" and others to the concept of "dog." NATURE Bugs at war to save pine trees IN­DEPTH in South Writing in the journal , they said their study shows how the brain ANALYSIS categorizes things. Group solicits votes for a U.S. LOCAL national tree EDITIONS: "One of our most fundamental behaviors is to assign meaning to what's First cloned endangered CNN.com around us," Earl Miller, an associate professor of brain and cognitive species dies 2 days after birth change default edition sciences who helped the study, said in a statement. (MORE)

"When we enter a room, we don't spend a lot of time and effort identifying MULTIMEDIA: TOP STORIES video the objects. We know immediately if something is a chair or a table, and how to use it, even if we have never seen that particular chair or table before." Tenth anniversary of the Gulf video archive War: A look back audio Yet, he said, know almost nothing about how the brain does this. multimedia showcase Ashcroft's record under scrutiny on day of hearings more services Miller, a neural , said he believed individual neurons would have to Suspected infected cow found be involved. at McDonald's supplier in Italy E­MAIL: Subscribe to one of our Aid pours in for quake­stricken "Imagine a young child learning about a cat," he said in a telephone El Salvador news e­mail lists. interview. "You have a very long laundry list about what makes a cat. If it Enter your address: has long whiskers, purrs and has fur, it must be a cat. This information gets (MORE) go encoded in single neurons in the brain." BUSINESS DISCUSSION: The brain has to be able to get this information and put it together quickly. Wall St. starts steady message boards chat "By encoding the information on a single cell level, the brain can Calif. utility in default feedback automatically and effortlessly categorize everything," Miller said. Nestl snaps up Purina

CNN WEB SITES: He and colleagues showed their rhesus monkeys computer­ generated images (MORE) of "generic" cats and dogs ­­ a house cat, a tiger and a cheetah, and a Friday's market MARKETS German shepherd, a pointer and a St. Bernard. close DJIA 84.17 10525.38 CNNfyi.com Blended images NAS 14.07 2626.50 CNN.com Europe S&P 8.27 1318.55 AsiaNow They blended the six images into a single image. As soon as the image was Spanish more than half cat or dog, the monkeys, which had never seen a live example Portuguese of either type of , correctly categorized it 90 percent of the time. German SPORTS Italian "It was a long, slow learning process, but they learned what makes a cat a Swedish SI's Don Banks: Collins making cat and what makes a dog a dog," Miller said. most of second chance Norwegian Danish Ted Williams reportedly fine "The monkey's individual neurons became sensitive to features that comprise after six­hour surgery Japanese a dog or cat. With enough experience, that happens automatically." Chinese Headlines Camby's attack overshadows Knicks victory Korean Headlines To follow what the neurons were doing, they stuck extremely thin wires into the monkey's brains. Such wires are often used to monitor individual neurons (MORE) TIME INC. SITES: in the brains of laboratory . All Scoreboards Go To ... "It's a painless procedure," Miller said. "We recorded the prefrontal cortex, WEATHER CNN NETWORKS: which is important to high­level cognitive function. We thought it was a likely Enter your U.S. Zip: spot." go Click here for U.S. States or Because monkey's brains are so similar to the brains of humans, Miller said world cities he was certain the same thing happens in people ­­ although he said he cannot go around sticking wires into the brains of human volunteers. WORLD CNN anchors Next he wants to find other regions of the brain that are involved in this Aid pours in for quake­stricken transcripts process of categorizing. "It is certainly not the prefrontal cortex alone," he El Salvador Turner distribution said. U.S.

Copyright 2001 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be SITE INFO: Tenth anniversary of the Gulf help published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. War: A look back contents ALLPOLITICS search ad info RELATED STORIES: Ashcroft's record under jobs scrutiny on day of hearings Genome the crowning achievement of medicine in 2000 LAW WEB SERVICES: December 31, 2000 therapy targets muscular dystrophy November 27, 2000 Lockerbie bomb route Gene research yields drug that helps heal chronic ulcers, questioned company announces TECHNOLOGY September 13, 2000 Scientists suspect a gene for Alzheimer's disease 'Ginger' inventor says July 13, 2000 speculation overblown

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