Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T03:25:43.153Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What is a number? The interplay between number and continuous magnitudes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2017

Rosa Rugani ,
Umberto Castiello ,
Konstantinos Priftis ,
Andrea Spoto  and
Luisa Sartori
Rosa Rugani
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italyrosa.rugani@unipd.itumberto.castiello@unipd.itkonstantinos.priftis@unipd.itandrea.spoto@unipd.itluisa.sartori@unipd.ithttp://www.dpg.unipd.it/rosa-ruganihttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/umberto-castiello/http://www.dpg.unipd.it/en/konstantinos-priftishttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/luisa-sartori/http://didattica.unipd.it/offerta/docente/6DB5058FD70BCB294F3B6A43724D4A02
Umberto Castiello
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italyrosa.rugani@unipd.itumberto.castiello@unipd.itkonstantinos.priftis@unipd.itandrea.spoto@unipd.itluisa.sartori@unipd.ithttp://www.dpg.unipd.it/rosa-ruganihttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/umberto-castiello/http://www.dpg.unipd.it/en/konstantinos-priftishttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/luisa-sartori/http://didattica.unipd.it/offerta/docente/6DB5058FD70BCB294F3B6A43724D4A02 Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italy Centro Linceo Interdisciplinare Beniamino Segre, Accademia dei Lincei, 00165 Rome, Italy
Konstantinos Priftis
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italyrosa.rugani@unipd.itumberto.castiello@unipd.itkonstantinos.priftis@unipd.itandrea.spoto@unipd.itluisa.sartori@unipd.ithttp://www.dpg.unipd.it/rosa-ruganihttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/umberto-castiello/http://www.dpg.unipd.it/en/konstantinos-priftishttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/luisa-sartori/http://didattica.unipd.it/offerta/docente/6DB5058FD70BCB294F3B6A43724D4A02
Andrea Spoto
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italyrosa.rugani@unipd.itumberto.castiello@unipd.itkonstantinos.priftis@unipd.itandrea.spoto@unipd.itluisa.sartori@unipd.ithttp://www.dpg.unipd.it/rosa-ruganihttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/umberto-castiello/http://www.dpg.unipd.it/en/konstantinos-priftishttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/luisa-sartori/http://didattica.unipd.it/offerta/docente/6DB5058FD70BCB294F3B6A43724D4A02
Luisa Sartori
Affiliation:
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italyrosa.rugani@unipd.itumberto.castiello@unipd.itkonstantinos.priftis@unipd.itandrea.spoto@unipd.itluisa.sartori@unipd.ithttp://www.dpg.unipd.it/rosa-ruganihttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/umberto-castiello/http://www.dpg.unipd.it/en/konstantinos-priftishttp://nemolaboratory.com/people/luisa-sartori/http://didattica.unipd.it/offerta/docente/6DB5058FD70BCB294F3B6A43724D4A02 Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italy
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Leibovich et al. argue that it is impossible to control for all continuous magnitudes in a numerical task. We contend that continuous magnitudes (i.e., perimeter, area, density) can be simultaneously controlled. Furthermore, we argue that shedding light on the interplay between number and continuous magnitudes – rather than considering them independently – will provide a much more fruitful approach to understanding mathematical abilities.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e187
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Clearfield, M. W. & Mix, K. S. (1999) Number versus contour length in infants' discrimination of small visual sets. Psychological Science 10:408–11.Google Scholar
Clearfield, M. W. & Mix, K. S. (2001) Infants use continuous quantity – not number – to discriminate small visual sets. Journal of Cognition and Development 2:243–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feigenson, L., Carey, S. & Spelke, E. (2002) Infants' discrimination of number versus continuous extent. Cognitive Psychology 44:33–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feigenson, L., Dehaene, S. & Spelke, E. (2004) Core systems of number. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8(7):307–14. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2004.05.002.Google Scholar
Gallistel, C. R. (2011) Mental magnitudes. In: Space, time and number in the brain: Searching for the foundations of mathematical thought, ed. Dehaene, S. & Brannon, L., pp. 3–12. Elsevier.Google Scholar
Rugani, R., Regolin, L. & Vallortigara, G. (2010) Imprinted numbers: Newborn chicks' sensitivity to number vs. continuous extent of objects they have been reared with. Developmental Science 13:790–97.Google Scholar
Rugani, R., Regolin, L. & Vallortigara, G. (2011) Summation of large numerousness by newborn chicks. Frontiers in Psychology 2:179. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00179.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rugani, R., Vallortigara, G., Priftis, K. & Regolin, L. (2015) Number-space mapping in the newborn chick resembles humans' mental number line. Science 347:534–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stancher, G. Rugani, R., Regolin, L. & Vallortigara, G. (2015) Numerical discrimination by frogs (Bombina orientalis). Animal Cognition 18(1):219–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suanda, S. H., Tompson, W. & Brannon, E. M. (2008) Changes in the ability to detect ordinal numerical relationships between 9 and 11 months of age. Infancy 13:308–37.Google Scholar