Natural aptitude for math emerges early in life

Scientists have found that we may actually be born with a deep instinct for numbers. And a new study suggests that our number sense operates much faster than previously thought. It might be better called our number reflex.

Some of the most compelling evidence for the number sense comes from studies on babies. In a 2010 study, for example, Elizabeth Brannon of Duke and her colleagues showed 6-month-old babies pictures of dots. As they switched between different pictures, they tracked how long the babies looked at each one. In some cases, the pictures were identical. In others, the dots differed in size or spacing. And in still other cases, Brannon and her colleagues added extra dots to the pictures.

When Brannon and her colleagues looked over their data, they found that the attention of the babies tended to be grabbed when they switched the number of dots. What’s more, the babies looked longer at a picture when the difference in the number was bigger.

The number sense in infants is the raw material for math aptitude later in life, as Brannon documented when she followed up on the infants three years later. Brannon found that their sensitivity to numbers as six-month-olds predicted how well they scored on math tests as three-year-olds. Other scientists have also found that a link between number sense and math skills in fourteen-year-olds.

So, how does this play out biologically? When light hits our eyes, the retina takes the first pass at processing the image and then fires signals down the optic nerve to the back of the head. The visual cortex then teases out some basic features, such as brightness, edges, color, and so on. The regions where this processing takes place then send signals to other parts of the brain, which detect more complex things, like body movements and faces.

Some researchers have proposed that our awareness of numbers only emerges late in this pathway. We may first have to detect other features of a scene, and then analyze them in order to figure out how many objects there are in a group.

Read full original article: We Are Instant Number Crunchers

{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.singularReviewCountLabel }}
{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.pluralReviewCountLabel }}
{{ options.labels.newReviewButton }}
{{ userData.canReview.message }}
screenshot at  pm

Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
glp menu logo outlined

Newsletter Subscription

* indicates required
Email Lists
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.