Can monkeys reason logically , and if so, what does that look like at the level of single neurons? Neurophysiologist Stefano Ferraina presents evidence that prefrontal cortex neurons encode both symbolic distance and serial position during transitive inference, suggesting a neural substrate for logical reasoning in non-human primates. Subscribe for more from the Convergent Science Network podcast series. Stefano Ferraina joins Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott at the BCBT summer school to discuss his research on transitive inference in macaque monkeys. The task requires animals to learn an ordered sequence of abstract visual symbols through pairwise comparisons, then infer the correct ranking of novel, never-before-matched pairs. Surprisingly, monkeys master this within weeks and show a robust symbolic distance effect: comparing symbols far apart  ...