Can a rat perform the same perceptual decision-making tasks that were once thought to require a primate brain? Neuroscientist Matthew Diamond explains how rats trained on complex vibrotactile comparisons reveal fundamental principles of evidence accumulation, working memory, and sensory coding , and why individual differences between rats rival those between humans. Subscribe for more from the Convergent Science Network podcast series. Matthew Diamond joins Paul Verschure and Tony Prescott at the BCBT summer school to present his laboratory's work on whisker-mediated decision-making in rats. Using a paradigm in which rats compare two vibrotactile stimuli separated by a delay, Diamond's team has shown that rats can perform parametric comparisons of stimulus intensity and duration , tasks previously considered beyond rodent capability. The results  ...