Math For Babies
Doing math is thought to be a uniquely human skill. We can learn the abstract concept of a number: two things or three things or four things; we can represent that concept symbolically (2, 3, 4); and we can use those symbols to understand more complex abstractions (2*3^4).
We’re not born with these abilities, but we do seem to be born with a general sense of number. A few years ago, researchers played newborn infants — as young as seven hours! — recordings of spoken syllables repeated a fixed number of times. In one trial, babies would hear “tuuuuu” four times, for example, whereas in another they’d hear “tu” twelve times. At the same time, the babies were shown pictures of geometric shapes, such as four squares or twelve circles. Somewhat amazingly (at this age, after all, they’re basically blind, sucking potato sacks), the babies matched the number of sounds they heard with the number of shapes they saw. On the trials where they had heard four syllables, they would look longer at pictures of four shapes, and on those with 12 syllables, they’d look longer at pictures of 12 shapes.
Those findings suggested that people have an innate sense of number — or, as cognitive scientists call it, an “approximate number system,” or ANS. Many researchers have argued that the ANS serves as a foundation for learning how to count and do more complicated math later on. That idea makes intuitive sense, but it has been challenging to prove because so many things influence math skills, including general intelligence, language ability, and educational experiences.
“Because children learn number words and symbols so early, it was always hard to say whether symbolic number knowledge was influencing ANS precision or vice-versa,” notes Gavin Price, a cognitive neuroscientist at Vanderbilt University.
That tricky issue is clearer now, experts say, thanks to a study out yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that the better a baby’s number sense at 6 months old, the stronger her mathematical abilities three years later. What’s more, the relationship held after controlling for general intelligence. “It’s a huge contribution to the literature,” says Price, who was not involved in the work.See more gerber baby contest winners on our offcial page.