Spontaneous perception of numerosity in pre-school children. Issue 1906 (10th July 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Anobile, G.; Guerrini, G.; Burr, D. C.; Monti, M.; Del Lucchese, B.; Cicchini, G. M.
• Is Part Of: Proceedings. Volume 286:Issue 1906(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-07-10
• Subjects: numerosity perception -- numerical cognition -- math abilities -- texture density -- magnitude perception; Biology -- Periodicals; 570.5
• DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1245
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0962-8452

Abstract

Abstract : There is strong evidence that humans can make rough estimates of the numerosity of a set of items, almost from birth. However, as numerosity covaries with many non-numerical variables, the idea of a direct number sense has been challenged. Here we applied two different psychophysical paradigms to demonstrate the spontaneous perception of numerosity in a cohort of young pre-school children. The results of both tasks showed that even at that early developmental stage, humans spontaneously base the perceptual choice on numerosity, rather than on area or density. Precision in one of these tasks predicted mathematical abilities. The results reinforce strongly the idea of a primary number sense and provide further evidence linking mathematical skills to the sensory precision of the spontaneous number sense, rather than to mechanisms involved in handling explicit numerosity judgements or extensive exposure to mathematical teaching.