Final answer:
Research with single-cell recording in monkeys has provided crucial insights into the visual system and visuomotor guidance. Discoveries by Hubel and Wiesel about orientation-specific neurons in the visual cortex and recent findings on mirror neurons underscore the complexity of primate visual processing and learning abilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Monkeys have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the visual system and visuomotor guidance. Research that included single-cell recordings, such as the Nobel Prize-winning work by David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel, uncovered that specific neurons in the visual cortex respond to visual cues like line orientation, contributing to our perception of the world. These cells, discovered in the area of the cortex known as columns and hypercolumns, were found to have a role in visuomotor guidance, which is crucial for tasks involving eye-hand coordination and visual processing. Further research, like that with mirror neurons, has shown that these kinds of neurons enable monkeys to understand and imitate actions, which has implications for the cognitive abilities and learning patterns in primates. This ability to mimic actions seen in other primates or even humans, as observed in spider monkeys learning to drink from a bottle, suggests a sophisticated understanding of actions that aid in their survival and social behaviors.