The Limits of Counting: Numerical Cognition Between Evolution and Culture

by: Sieghard Beller, Andrea Bender

Science, Vol. 319, No. 5860. (11 January 2008), pp. 213-215.

View FullText article

DOI, HighWire, Pubmed, Hubmed

Reviews [Write a review of this article]

There are no reviews of this article

Find related articles from these CiteULike users

shivakmr, biomcgary, VisionLab (group), sen_cheng, annashusterman, voiklis, ColDyn (group)

Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

anthropology, cognition, concepts, cross-linguistic, _d_, evolution, general, human, language, number, number_systems, numeracy

Abstract

Number words that, in principle, allow all kinds of objects to be counted ad infinitum are one basic requirement for complex numerical cognition. Accordingly, short or object-specific counting sequences in a language are often regarded as earlier steps in the evolution from premathematical conceptions to greater abstraction. We present some instances from Melanesia and Polynesia, whose short or object-specific sequences originated from the same extensive and abstract sequence. Furthermore, the object-specific sequences can be shown to be cognitively advantageous for calculations without notation because they use larger counting units, thereby abbreviating higher numbers, enhancing the counting process, and extending the limits of counting. These results expand our knowledge both regarding numerical cognition and regarding the evolution of numeration systems. 10.1126/science.1148345

@article{citeulike:2219111, abstract = {Number words that, in principle, allow all kinds of objects to be counted ad infinitum are one basic requirement for complex numerical cognition. Accordingly, short or object-specific counting sequences in a language are often regarded as earlier steps in the evolution from premathematical conceptions to greater abstraction. We present some instances from Melanesia and Polynesia, whose short or object-specific sequences originated from the same extensive and abstract sequence. Furthermore, the object-specific sequences can be shown to be cognitively advantageous for calculations without notation because they use larger counting units, thereby abbreviating higher numbers, enhancing the counting process, and extending the limits of counting. These results expand our knowledge both regarding numerical cognition and regarding the evolution of numeration systems. 10.1126/science.1148345}, author = {Beller, Sieghard and Bender, Andrea }, citeulike-article-id = {2219111}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1148345}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {cross-linguistic, language, number}, month = {January}, number = {5860}, pages = {213--215}, posted-at = {2008-07-16 15:46:05}, priority = {5}, title = {The Limits of Counting: Numerical Cognition Between Evolution and Culture}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1148345}, volume = {319}, year = {2008} }

RIS record

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2219111 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2219111 N2 - Number words that, in principle, allow all kinds of objects to be counted ad infinitum are one basic requirement for complex numerical cognition. Accordingly, short or object-specific counting sequences in a language are often regarded as earlier steps in the evolution from premathematical conceptions to greater abstraction. We present some instances from Melanesia and Polynesia, whose short or object-specific sequences originated from the same extensive and abstract sequence. Furthermore, the object-specific sequences can be shown to be cognitively advantageous for calculations without notation because they use larger counting units, thereby abbreviating higher numbers, enhancing the counting process, and extending the limits of counting. These results expand our knowledge both regarding numerical cognition and regarding the evolution of numeration systems. 10.1126/science.1148345 IS - 5860 JF - Science EP - 215 TI - The Limits of Counting: Numerical Cognition Between Evolution and Culture VL - 319 SP - 213 KW - cross-linguistic KW - language KW - number AU - Beller, Sieghard AU - Bender, Andrea PY - 2008/01/11/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1148345 ER -

RIS BibTeX