Language-specific effects on number computation in toddlers
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Multimedia Battery for Assessment of Cognitive and Basic Skills in Mathematics (BM-PROMA)
Published on: August 28, 2021
Célia Hodent1, Peter Bryant, Olivier Houdé
1UMR 6194, CNRS, CEA, Universities of Caen and Paris 5 (Sorbonne), Institute of Psychology, France.
Abstract:
A fundamental question in developmental science is how brains with and without language compute numbers. Measuring young children's verbal reactions in France (Paris) and in England (Oxford), here we show that, although there is a general arithmetic ability for small numbers that is shared by monkeys and preverbal infants, the development of such initial knowledge in humans follows specific performance patterns, depending on what language the children speak.
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