| Addition and subtraction by human infants. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 1508269 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Human infants can discriminate between different small numbers of items, and can determine numerical equivalence across perceptual modalities. This may indicate the possession of true numerical concepts. Alternatively, purely perceptual discriminations may underlie these abilities. This debate addresses the nature of subitization, the ability to quantify small numbers of items without conscious counting. Subitization may involve the holistic recognition of canonical perceptual patterns that do not reveal ordinal relationships between the numbers, or may instead be an iterative or 'counting' process that specifies these numerical relationships. Here I show that 5-month-old infants can calculate the results of simple arithmetical operations on small numbers of items. This indicates that infants possess true numerical concepts, and suggests that humans are innately endowed with arithmetical abilities. It also suggests that subitization is a process that encodes ordinal information, not a pattern-recognition process yielding non-numerical percepts. |
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Authors:
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K Wynn |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Nature Volume: 358 ISSN: 0028-0836 ISO Abbreviation: Nature Publication Date: 1992 Aug |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 1992-09-22 Completed Date: 1992-09-22 Revised Date: 2006-11-15 |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0410462 Medline TA: Nature Country: ENGLAND |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 749-50 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721. |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Cognition Humans Infant* Mathematics* Visual Perception |
| Comments/Corrections | |
Comment In:
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Nature. 1992 Aug 27;358(6389):712-3
[PMID:
1508267
]
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Erratum In:
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Nature 1993 Jan 28;361(6410):374 Nature 1992 Dec 24-31;360(6406):768 |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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