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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Newborn infants perceive abstract numbers.

Véronique Izard¹, Coralie Sann, Elizabeth S Spelke

¹Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. veronique.izard@polytechnique.org

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|June 13, 2009

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Newborn infants demonstrate abstract numerical representations, associating visual object arrays with auditory event sequences by number. This suggests innate numerical cognition exists from birth, independent of language or culture.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Developmental Psychology
Neuroscience

Background:

Infants and animals can process approximate quantities.
Abstract numerical representations, applicable across different entities, were previously thought to emerge later in human development, potentially influenced by language or culture.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether abstract numerical representations are present in newborn infants.
To determine if numerical cognition is an innate human capacity.

Main Methods:

Newborn infants were presented with stationary, visual-spatial arrays containing 4-18 objects.
Their responses were monitored while auditory sequences of events were played.
Performance was analyzed to assess the association between visual quantity and auditory number.

Main Results:

Newborn infants spontaneously associated visual arrays with auditory sequences based on numerical quantity.
This association occurred across different sensory modalities (visual and auditory).

Conclusions:

Abstract numerical representations are present at the beginning of postnatal experience.
This provides evidence for innate, core numerical knowledge in humans, independent of language and culture.