Is core knowledge a natural subdivision of infant cognition?

We examine Spelke's core knowledge taxonomy and test its boundaries. We ask whether Spelke's core knowledge is a distinct of cognition in the sense that the cognitive processes it includes and excludes are biologically and mechanically coherent.

Visual adaptation reveals multichannel coding for numerosity.

Visual numerosity is represented automatically and rapidly, but much remains unknown about the computations underlying this perceptual experience. For example, it is unclear whether numerosity is represented with an opponent channel or multichannel coding system. Within an opponent channel system, all numerical values are represented the relative activity of two pools of neurons (i.

No intrinsic number bias: Evaluating the role of perceptual discriminability in magnitude categorization.

Accumulating evidence suggests that there is a spontaneous preference for numerical, compared to non-numerical (e.g., cumulative surface area), information.

A theory of perceptual number encoding.

There has long been interest in how the mind represents numerical magnitude, particularly in the absence of symbols. For humans and nonhuman animals, number represents a core dimension of perceptual experience by which objects in the physical world are delineated. The physical world is also well characterized by other dimensions, many of which covary with number.

Perceived number is not abstract.

To support the claim that the approximate number system (ANS) represents rational numbers, Clarke and Beck (C&B) argue that number perception is abstract and characterized by a second-order character. However, converging evidence from visual illusions and psychophysics suggests that perceived number is not abstract, but rather, is perceptually interdependent with other magnitudes. Moreover, number, as a concept, is second-order, but number, as a percept, is not.

Spatial-numerical associations from a novel paradigm support the mental number line account.

Multiple tasks have been used to demonstrate the relation between numbers and space. The classic interpretation of these directional spatial-numerical associations (d-SNAs) is that they are the product of a mental number line (MNL), in which numerical magnitude is intrinsically associated with spatial position. The alternative account is that d-SNAs reflect task demands, such as explicit numerical judgements and/or categorical responses.

The relative salience of numerical and non-numerical dimensions shifts over development: A re-analysis of.

Visual displays of objects include information about number and other magnitudes such as cumulative surface area. Despite the confluence of cues, a prevalent view is that number is uniquely salient within multidimensional stimuli. Consistent with this view, Tomlinson et al.

Numerosity and cumulative surface area are perceived holistically as integral dimensions.

Human and nonhuman animals have a remarkable capacity to rapidly estimate the quantity of objects in the environment. The dominant view of this ability posits an abstract numerosity code, uncontaminated by nonnumerical visual information. The present study provides novel evidence in contradiction to this view by demonstrating that number and cumulative surface area are perceived holistically, classically known as .

Canine sense of quantity: evidence for numerical ratio-dependent activation in parietotemporal cortex.

The approximate number system (ANS), which supports the rapid estimation of quantity, emerges early in human development and is widespread across species. Neural evidence from both human and non-human primates suggests the parietal cortex as a primary locus of numerical estimation, but it is unclear whether the numerical competencies observed across non-primate species are subserved by similar neural mechanisms. Moreover, because studies with non-human animals typically involve extensive training, little is known about the spontaneous numerical capacities of non-human animals.

Cross-magnitude interactions across development: Longitudinal evidence for a general magnitude system.

There is general agreement that humans represent numerical, spatial, and temporal magnitudes from early in development. However, there is disagreement about whether different magnitudes converge within a general magnitude system and whether this system supports behavioral demonstrations of cross-magnitude interactions at different developmental time points. Using a longitudinal design, we found a relation between children's cross-magnitude interactions assessed at two developmental time points with different behavioral measures.

The Developing Mental Number Line: Does Its Directionality Relate to 5- to 7-Year-Old Children's Mathematical Abilities?

Spatial representations of number, such as a left-to-right oriented mental number line, are well documented in Western culture. Yet, the functional significance of such a representation remains unclear. To test the prominent hypothesis that a mental number line may support mathematical development, we examined the relation between spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) and math proficiency in 5- to 7-year-old children.

Right idea, wrong magnitude system.

Leibovich et al. claim that number representations are non-existent early in life and that the associations between number and continuous magnitudes reside in stimulus confounds. We challenge both claims - positing, instead, that number is represented independently of continuous magnitudes already in infancy, but is nonetheless more deeply connected to other magnitudes through adulthood than acknowledged by the "sense of magnitude" theory.