Learning Complex Math Originates in Sense of More or Less

Only humans can learn formal math including symbolic notations of number, quantitative concepts and computational operations.

According to a new finding from the Emory University, this ability to learn complex math is uniquely human trait and is intricately connected to a primitive sense of magnitude that is shared by many animals.

"Our results clearly show that uniquely human branches of mathematics interface with an evolutionarily primitive general magnitude system," says lead author Stella Lourenco, a psychologist at Emory University. "We were able to show how variations in both advanced arithmetic and geometry skills specifically correlated with variations in our intuitive sense of magnitude."

According to the reports, babies as young as six months can roughly distinguish between less and more, whether it the size of the objects or the length of time they see the objects.

This intuitive, non-verbal sense of magnitude, which may be innate, is demonstrated by the in animals. This was explained with the help of an example where the researchers said how the monkeys would choose the bigger bunch when they are offered a choice between a group of five bananas and two.

"It's obviously of adaptive value for all animals to be able to discriminate between less and more," Lourenco says. "The ability is widespread across the animal kingdom -- fish, rodents and even insects show sensitivity to magnitude, such as the number of items in a set of objects."

While the general magnitude system has been linked primarily to the brain's intraparietal sulcus (IPS), higher math requires the use of more widely distributed areas of the brain.

For the study, the researchers wanted to build on work by others indicating that a lower-order sense of number is not just a separate function, but plays a role in the mental capacity for more complex math.

The study was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).