A group of US researchers have come up with strong evidence that suggest humans may be innately wired, from infancy, to recognize and work with numbers. Numbers might not be as abstract a concept as we have once thought. Test subjects as young as six months old show strong numerical sensibility.
Elizabeth Brannon, a neuroscientist from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, tested the ability of 48 six-month-olds by showing them two screens. One screen showed the same number of dots with changing positions, while the other screen showed dots of different quantities. The latest study retested the subjects who were evaluated in 2010 using the same dot tests and additional standard pre-school math exams that involved counting, basic calculations, and determining the larger number between two numbers.
The results of the study published on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that babies with a stronger numerical sensibility were more attracted to the screen with altering quantities of dots. What's more interesting is that, when she tested these same babies three years later, those with stronger math sensibilities when they were infants scored better in pre-school standard math aptitude tests.
"It may explain some of the differences in how easy children find it to learn. We're asking 'Can you train the approximate number system, or primitive number sense; can you improve it and will this actually have an effect on symbolic mathematics," said Brandon in an interview.
While Brannon's studies show how math aptitude at six months can affect the babies' abilities in the next three years, other factors such as environmental influences can affect math skills much later in life. Another factor will be short term memory. The trends are interesting to examine, though, because the findings can greatly affect one's mathematical skills as an adolescent, and even as an adult. The experts stressed that the six-month-old's mathematical aptitude will not necessarily affect his or her test results once he or she is in college.
However, for parents and teachers, studies like these can greatly improve the way we introduce and train children to work with numbers. Currently, there are books and videos training babies as young as six months to recognize numbers, the alphabet, shapes, and other information that is usually taught to a preschooler. While the debate still goes on as to the effectiveness of these learning tools in increasing a child's IQ level, these studies on very early math skills encourage the practice of introducing numbers and letters early in life.
