Numerical cognition is a subdiscipline of cognitive science that studies the cognitive, developmental and neural bases of numbers and mathematics. As with many cognitive science endeavors, this is a highly interdisciplinary topic, and includes researchers in cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience and cognitive linguistics. This discipline, although it may interact with questions in the philosophy of mathematics is primarily concerned with empirical questions.
Topics included in the domain of numerical cognition include:
- How do non-human animals process numerosity?
- How do infants acquire an understanding of numbers (and how much is inborn)?
- How do humans associate linguistic symbols with numerical quantities?
- How do these capacities underlie our ability to perform complex calculations?
- What are the neural bases of these abilities, both in humans and in non-humans?
- What metaphorical capacities and processes allow us to extend our numerical understanding into complex domains such as the concept of infinity, the infinitesimal or the concept of the limit in calculus?
Read more about Numerical Cognition: Comparative Studies, Developmental Studies, Neuroimaging and Neurophysiological Studies, Relations Between Number and Other Cognitive Processes, Ethnolinguistic Variance, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words numerical and/or cognition:
“There is a genius of a nation, which is not to be found in the numerical citizens, but which characterizes the society.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Intuitive cognition of a thing is cognition that enables us to know whether the thing exists or does not exist, in such a way that, if the thing exists, then the intellect immediately judges that it exists and evidently knows that it exists, unless the judgment happens to be impeded through the imperfection of this cognition.”
—William of Occam (c. 1285–1349)