Large number discrimination in 6-month-old infants
CognitionPublished 1 January 2000
Fei Xu, Elizabeth S. Spelke
Citations1,535
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score1.69
SNIP1.55
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
Six-month-old infants discriminate between large sets of objects on the basis of numerosity when other extraneous variables are controlled, provided that the sets to be discriminated differ by a large ratio.
Abstract
Six-month-old infants discriminate between large sets of objects on the basis of numerosity when other extraneous variables are controlled, provided that the sets to be discriminated differ by a large ratio (8 vs. 16 but not 8 vs. 12). The capacities to represent approximate numerosity found in adult animals and humans evidently develop in human infants prior to language and symbolic counting.
Keywords
Social SciencesMathematics
The organization of learning
2,463 Citations1990C. R. Gallistel
Cognitive PsychologyThe reviewing of object files: Object-specific integration of information
2,208 Citations1992Daniel Kahneman, Anne Treisman +1 more
The concept of anobject file as a temporary episodic representation, within which successive states of an object are linked and integrated, is developed, which develops the concept of a reviewing process, which is triggered by the appearance of the target and retrieves just one of the previewed items.
NatureAddition and subtraction by human infants
1,826 Citations1992Karen Wynn
5-month-old infants can calculate the results of simple arithmetical operations on small numbers of items, which indicates that infants possess true numerical concepts, and suggests that humans are innately endowed with arathmetical abilities.
ScienceSources of Mathematical Thinking: Behavioral and Brain-Imaging Evidence
1,740 Citations1999Stanislas Dehaene, Elizabeth S. Spelke +3 more
CognitionPreverbal and verbal counting and computation
1,365 Citations1992C. R. Gallistel, Rochel Gelman
The preverbal system of counting and arithmetic reasoning revealed by experiments on numerical representations in animals is described and a model of the fact retrieval process accounts for the salient features of the reaction time differences and error patterns revealed by experiment on mental arithmetic.
CognitionChildren's understanding of counting
1,213 Citations1990Karen Wynn
Children learn the meanings of smaller number words before larger ones within their counting range, up to the number three or four, indicating that children learn the cardinal word principle at roughly 3 1/2 years of age.
Cognitive PsychologyChildren's acquisition of the number words and the counting system
1,061 Citations1992Karen Wynn
Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior ProcessesA mode control model of counting and timing processes.
1,049 Citations1983Warren H. Meck, Russell M. Church
The conclusion was that the same internal mechanism is used for counting and timing that can be used in several modes: the "event" mode for counting or the "run" and the "stop" modes for timing.
Psychological ReviewWhy are small and large numbers enumerated differently? A limited-capacity preattentive stage in vision.
943 Citations1994Lana M. Trick, Zenon W. Pylyshyn
It is argued that subitizing exploits a limited-capacity parallel mechanism for item individuation, the FINST mechanism, associated with the multiple target tracking task (Pylyshyn, 1989; Pylyshy & Storm, 1988).
Psychological ScienceNonverbal Counting in Humans: The Psychophysics of Number Representation
690 Citations1999J. Whalen, C. R. Gallistel +1 more
The results support the hypothesis that adult humans share with nonverbal animals a system for representing number by magnitudes that have scalar variability (a constant coefficient of variation) and provide a formal model of the underlying nonverbal meaning of the symbols.
SciencePerception of Numbers by Human Infants
688 Citations1980Prentice Starkey, Robert G. Cooper
This finding indicates that some number capacity is present before the onset of verbal counting, and it suggests that verbal counting may have precursors present during infancy.
CognitionNumerical abstraction by human infants
498 Citations1990Prentice Starkey, Elizabeth S. Spelke +1 more
These findings provide evidence that the emergence of the earliest numerical abilities does not depend upon the development of language or complex actions, or upon cultural experience with number, as well as a sensitivity to numerosity, an abstract property of collections of objects and events.
Trends in Cognitive SciencesIndexing and the object concept: developing `what' and `where' systems
475 Citations1998Alan M. Leslie, Fei Xu +2 more
The indexing model is developed, a mechanism of selective attention that points at a physical object in a location that underwrites the distinction between object individuation and object identification.
Cognitive PsychologyTracking Multiple Items Through Occlusion: Clues to Visual Objecthood
472 Citations1999Brian J. Scholl, Zenon W. Pylyshyn
Performance was not impaired when the items were briefly (but completely) occluded at various times during their motion, suggesting that occlusion is taken into account when computing enduring perceptual objecthood.
Child DevelopmentPerception of Numerical Invariance in Neonates
418 Citations1983Sue E. Antell, Daniel P. Keating
Psychological ScienceNumber Versus Contour Length in Infants' Discrimination of Small Visual Sets
385 Citations1999Melissa W. Clearfield, Kelly S. Mix
Cognitive DevelopmentWhat representations might underlie infant numerical knowledge?
343 Citations1999Claudia Uller, Susan Carey +2 more
Trends in Cognitive SciencesPsychological foundations of number: numerical competence in human infants
317 Citations1998Karen Wynn
It is argued that the body of data supports a very different proposal: humans possess a specialized mental mechanism for number, one which the authors share with other species and which has evolved through natural selection.
Child DevelopmentInfant Perception of Numerosity
315 Citations1981Mark Strauss, L. Curtis
The results suggest that early counting skills are preceded by a more perceptual awareness of numerosity, similar to that seen in preverbal infants.
Developmental PsychologyHow do 4-day-old infants categorize multisyllabic utterances?
314 Citations1993Ranka Bijeljac-Babic, Josiane Bertoncini +1 more
Cognitive DevelopmentDo infants understand simple arithmetic? A replication of Wynn (1992)
302 Citations1995Tony J. Simon, Susan J. Hespos +1 more
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of BehaviorPROBABILITY RELATIONS WITHIN RESPONSE SEQUENCES UNDER RATIO REINFORCEMENT<sup>1</sup>
281 Citations1958Francis Mechner
Cognitive DevelopmentReconceptualizing the origins of number knowledge: A “non-numerical” account
261 Citations1997Tony J. Simon
Journal of Experimental Psychology GeneralA mental model for early arithmetic.
236 Citations1994Janellen Huttenlocher, Nancy C. Jordan +1 more
The authors show that the ability to reliably solve non verbal calculation tasks emerges only after 2 years of age and that performance on nonverbal calculation problems is highly related to overall level of intellectual competence in children between 3 and 4 years ofAge.
Mathematical CognitionNumerical Transformations in Five-month-old Human Infants
166 Citations1997Étienne Koechlin
Origins of Numerical Knowledge
164 Citations2018Karen Wynn
Developmental PsychologyVisual perception of numerosity in infancy.
158 Citations1990Erik van Loosbroek, Ad W. Smitsman
Journal of Child LanguageLinguistic cues in the acquisition of number words
157 Citations1997Paul Bloom, Karen Wynn
Analysis of transcripts of the spontaneous speech of three one- and two-year-old children and their parents suggests that the relevant cues are available as input in parents' speech to children, and that children generally honour these properties of number words in their own speech.
Psychological ScienceLimits to Infants' Knowledge of Objects: The Case of Magical Appearance
125 Citations1998Karen Wynn, Wen-Chi Chiang
Perceiving and reasoning about objects: Insights from infants
107 Citations1999Elizabeth S. Spelke, Gretchen A. Van de Walle
Infant Behavior and DevelopmentDiscrimination of number by infants
35 Citations1984Frank A. Treiber, Stephen Wilcox
Infant Behavior and DevelopmentNumerical knowledge in infancy: The number/mass distinction
8 Citations1998Lisa Feigenson, Elizabeth S. Spelke