Non-symbolic Halving in an Amazonian Indigene Group

Overview

Journal Dev Sci

Specialty Psychology

Date 2013 Apr 17

PMID 23587042

Citations 6

Authors

Koleen McCrink

Elizabeth S Spelke

Stanislas Dehaene

Pierre Pica

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Much research supports the existence of an Approximate Number System (ANS) that is recruited by infants, children, adults, and non-human animals to generate coarse, non-symbolic representations of number. This system supports simple arithmetic operations such as addition, subtraction, and ordering of amounts. The current study tests whether an intuition of a more complex calculation, division, exists in an indigene group in the Amazon, the Mundurucu, whose language includes no words for large numbers. Mundurucu children were presented with a video event depicting a division transformation of halving, in which pairs of objects turned into single objects, reducing the array's numerical magnitude. Then they were tested on their ability to calculate the outcome of this division transformation with other large-number arrays. The Mundurucu children effected this transformation even when non-numerical variables were controlled, performed above chance levels on the very first set of test trials, and exhibited performance similar to urban children who had access to precise number words and a surrounding symbolic culture. We conclude that a halving calculation is part of the suite of intuitive operations supported by the ANS.

Citing Articles

Young Children Intuitively Divide Before They Recognize the Division Symbol.

Szkudlarek E, Zhang H, DeWind N, Brannon E Front Hum Neurosci. 2022; 16:752190.

PMID: 35280204 PMC: 8913505. DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.752190.

Numerical cognition: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation and brain-damaged patients studies.

Faye A, Jacquin-Courtois S, Reynaud E, Lesourd M, Besnard J, Osiurak F Neuroimage Clin. 2019; 24:102053.

PMID: 31795045 PMC: 6978218. DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.102053.

The Use of a Computer Display Exaggerates the Connection Between Education and Approximate Number Ability in Remote Populations.

Gibson E, Jara-Ettinger J, Levy R, Piantadosi S Open Mind (Camb). 2019; 1(3):159-168.

PMID: 30931421 PMC: 6436536. DOI: 10.1162/OPMI_a_00016.

Task Constraints Affect Mapping From Approximate Number System Estimates to Symbolic Numbers.

Chesney D, Matthews P Front Psychol. 2018; 9:1801.

PMID: 30386272 PMC: 6198106. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01801.

Word deafness with preserved number word perception.

Fischer-Baum S, Mis R, Dial H Cogn Neuropsychol. 2018; 35(8):415-429.

PMID: 30175931 PMC: 7065601. DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2018.1515734.

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