# COMPARATIVE AND NEUROBIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON CATEGORIZATION BEHAVIOR

> **NIH NIH P01** · OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $325,006

## Abstract

Summary
The ability to categorize objects and events and to extend this categorization behavior to new instances is
foundational to many human activities. We sort the objects and events around us into categories, while still
being able to recognize some or all of the individual members of each category. The ability to form categories
is especially adaptive, because it allows us to respond appropriately to novel stimuli after experiencing only a
few instances from a given category. The same ability should also benefit nonhuman animals. Over the years,
animal models have dramatically increased our understanding of the brain mechanisms of human learning and
memory, attention and attentional disorders, as well as schizophrenia, aggression, and depression. The
proposed research will develop effective pigeon and rat models of human categorization at both behavioral and
neural levels. Despite appreciable differences from humans, these animal models will enable direct access to
behavioral variables and brain structures that would not otherwise be possible. With both pigeons and rats as
experimental subjects, we will systematically explore the role of category structure and task supervision on
mastery of the same family of categorization tasks that we will also give to human infants, children, and adults
as well as computer models. We will train birds and mammals with tasks that are equated for contingencies of
reinforcement, category structure, and task structure, rendering this comparison unique to our collaboration.
The bird-mammal comparison will further allow us to explore homologous functions of the hippocampus and
striatum as well as analogous functions of the prefrontal cortex and the avian nidopallium caudolaterale.
Divergences in categorization behavior between birds and mammals along dimensions that are sensitive to
damage to these brain structures will indicate how similar these species are and how they may have diverged
through evolution. These results should provide key insights into the behavioral and neural mechanism of
categorization with particular relevance to normally and abnormally developing children prior to the emergence
of language.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9932476
- **Project number:** 5P01HD080679-05
- **Recipient organization:** OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Edward A WASSERMAN
- **Activity code:** P01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $325,006
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2022-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9932476

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9932476, COMPARATIVE AND NEUROBIOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON CATEGORIZATION BEHAVIOR (5P01HD080679-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9932476. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*