You see two bushes, one with 400 redcurrants and the other with 500. This early numerical system, helping infants and animals perceive the number of a small set of objects without having to actually count, probably relies on an internal attentional working memory system that is overwhelmed by numbers above around three.Īs we grow up, we become able to estimate far higher numbers, again without needing to refer to language. This skill is shared by many animals with significantly smaller brains, such as fish and bees.īees join an elite group of species that understands the concept of zero as a number
But there’s a limit to their numerical skills: they can only detect number changes between one and three, as when one apple is removed from a group of three apples. Instead, they use two distinct number systems.įrom as young as ten months old, human infants are already getting to grips with numbers. But that of course relies on numerical language, which young humans and animals do not possess. When we think of counting, we think of “one, two, three”. But as soon as language enters the picture, humans begin outperforming animals, revealing how words and digits underpin our advanced mathematical world. Humans and animals actually share some remarkable numerical abilities – helping them make smart decisions about where to feed and where to take shelter. So responding to numbers is an evolved trait we seem to share with some animals, as well as a skill we’re taught in some of our first lessons.Īs a researcher in numerical cognition, I’m interested in how brains process numbers. Tiny guppies and honeybees as well as hyenas and dogs have been found to perceive and act on numerical stimuli. It helped early humans to trade, apportion food and organise fledgling civilisations, laying the foundations for life as we know it today.īut a sensitivity for numbers isn’t uniquely human. Yet when you think about it, counting is a remarkable invention.
Counting feels utterly effortless to adults, who are unlikely to even remember when or how they picked up this useful, apparently automatic skill.