The link between number and action in human infants.
Gisella Decarli1,2, Ludovica Veggiotti1,2, Maria Dolores de Hevia3,4
1Université de Paris, INCC UMR 8002, CNRS, 75006, Paris, France.
Scientific Reports
|March 2, 2022
Summary
Infants as young as 7-9 months can link numerical concepts with actions. This study reveals an early, preverbal connection between number and action in the developing human mind.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- The parietal cortex supports numerical abilities and is linked to spatial and motor functions.
- While number-spatial links are known, the number-action connection in early development is less understood.
- Adult studies show interference between numerical and action processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the origins of the number-action link in infants.
- To determine if infants associate numerical magnitude with action-related information.
- To explore the existence of an early, preverbal number-action association.
Main Methods:
- Habituation paradigm with 7- to 9-month-old infants.
- Two groups: one habituated to congruent number-hand pairings, the other to incongruent pairings.
- Test trials presented both congruent and incongruent pairings to assess looking time.
Main Results:
- Infants habituated to congruent pairings showed significantly longer looking times for incongruent pairings.
- This indicates infants detected the mismatch between number and action.
- No significant looking time difference was observed in infants habituated to incongruent pairings.
Conclusions:
- Infants spontaneously associate magnitude changes across number and action dimensions.
- Findings support an early, preverbal link between number and action in the human mind.
- This early association may be foundational for later numerical and motor development.
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