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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics BM-PROMA

Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics BM-PROMA

Published on: August 28, 2021

Exact and approximate arithmetic in an Amazonian indigene group.

Pierre Pica¹, Cathy Lemer, Véronique Izard

¹Unité Mixte de Recherche 7023 "Formal Structures of Language," CNRS and Paris VIII University, Paris, France.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|October 16, 2004

Summary

Human calculation abilities are distinct. A nonverbal system handles approximate numbers, while language is crucial for exact arithmetic, as shown in a study of the Mundurukú people.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Linguistics
Anthropology

Background:

The relationship between language and numerical cognition is debated.
Investigating numerical abilities in indigenous communities with limited number lexicons offers unique insights.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the dependence of arithmetic abilities on the language faculty.
To explore numerical cognition in speakers of Mundurukú, an Amazonian language with a restricted number word lexicon.

Main Methods:

Comparative study of numerical cognition in Mundurukú speakers.
Assessment of abilities in approximate and exact arithmetic tasks.
Analysis of performance with numbers beyond the Mundurukú naming range.

Main Results:

Mundurukú speakers can compare and add large approximate numbers exceeding their number word limit.
Exact arithmetic performance is limited to numbers within their small lexicon (up to 4 or 5).
A dissociation was observed between nonverbal number approximation and language-dependent exact calculation.

Conclusions:

Numerical cognition comprises distinct systems for approximation and exact calculation.
Language is essential for the development and execution of exact arithmetic.
The findings suggest that the human capacity for precise calculation is intrinsically linked to linguistic structures.