Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Natural and Artificial Concepts

Natural and Artificial Concepts

In psychology, concepts can be divided into two categories: natural and artificial. Natural concepts are formed through direct or indirect experiences. For example, consider the concept of snow. If you live in a place with regular snowfall, such as Essex Junction, Vermont, you know snow through direct experiences. You’ve seen it fall, touched it, shoveled it, and played in it. You recognize its texture, appearance, and even its smell. In contrast, if you live on an island like Saint...

Concepts and Prototypes

Concepts and Prototypes

The human nervous system handles vast amounts of information by translating sensory stimuli into neural impulses, which the brain processes, creating thoughts expressed through language or stored as memories. The brain also synthesizes information from emotions and memories, which significantly influence thoughts and behaviors. This intricate process creates a comprehensive mental picture.
The brain organizes this information using concepts, which are mental categories grouping linguistic data,...

Relation between Mathematical Equations and Block Diagrams

Relation between Mathematical Equations and Block Diagrams

In a spring-mass-damper system, the second-order differential equation describes the dynamic behavior of the system. When transformed into the Laplace domain under zero initial conditions, this equation can be effectively analyzed and manipulated. The transformation into the Laplace domain converts differential equations into algebraic equations, simplifying the process of isolating the output.

Modeling and Similitude

Modeling and Similitude

Scaled modeling is a fundamental technique in engineering, enabling the study of large and complex systems by creating smaller, manageable replicas that recreate critical characteristics of the original. In hydrology and civil infrastructure, for example, scaled models of dams help analyze water flow, turbulence, and pressure. This method allows for accurate predictions of real-world behavior within a controlled environment, significantly reducing the cost and time involved in full-scale...

Schemas

Schemas

A schema is a mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts (Bartlett, 1932). There are many different types of schemata, and they all have one thing in common: schemata are a method of organizing information that allows the brain to work more efficiently. When a schema is activated, the brain makes immediate assumptions about the person or object being observed.

Molecular Models

Molecular Models

Physical models representing molecular architectures of chemical compounds play essential roles in understanding chemistry. The use of molecular models makes it easier to visualize the structures and shapes of atoms and molecules.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Initial organization and progressive expansion of the math-responsive brain network during the first school years.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

Impact of Education and Music Training on the Development of Abstract Thinking in the First Years of Schooling.

Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science·2026

Same author

Disentangling hierarchical and sequential computations during sentence processing.

Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior·2026

Same author

Representations of geometric shapes have syntactic structure.

Journal of experimental psychology. General·2026

Same author

Individual Brain Charting: fifth release of high-resolution fMRI data for cognitive mapping.

Scientific data·2026

Same author

Comparing Geometric Shape Representations in Humans and Baboons: A Language of Thought Perspective.

Topics in cognitive science·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 11, 2025

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

Published on: March 1, 2022

Mapping and modeling the semantic space of math concepts.

Samuel Debray¹, Stanislas Dehaene²

¹Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux énergies alternatives, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin center, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.

|October 6, 2024

Summary

This study maps the space of mathematical concepts using semantic models and human judgments. Educational background influences understanding, revealing a structured map of mathematical knowledge.

Keywords:

GloVe Latent semantic analysis Mathematical cognition Mathematical semantics Second order isomorphism

More Related Videos

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 11, 2025

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

A Psychophysics Paradigm for the Collection and Analysis of Similarity Judgments

Published on: March 1, 2022

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

The Spatial Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Computational Linguistics
Mathematics Education

Background:

Human cognition in mathematics is underexplored beyond basic concepts.
Existing research rarely maps the broader landscape of mathematical ideas.

Purpose of the Study:

To map the full space of mathematical concepts.
To evaluate distributed semantic models (e.g., GloVe) against human judgments of mathematical semantics.
To investigate the influence of education on these semantic judgments.

Main Methods:

Analyzed French and English Wikipedia math content to extract 1000 frequent terms.
Collected behavioral data on familiarity and semantic similarity judgments.
Utilized vector embeddings based on co-occurrence statistics to model semantic structures.

Main Results:

Vector embeddings explained approximately 50% of the variance in human similarity judgments.
Participant education level significantly modulated familiarity and similarity ratings.
A partial hierarchy of high-level math concepts was established based on educational influence.

Conclusions:

A comprehensive map of mathematical concepts is proposed, detailing frequency, familiarity, acquisition grade, and inter-concept relationships.
Distributed semantic models offer a partial but valuable representation of mathematical semantics.
Education plays a crucial role in shaping the understanding and organization of mathematical knowledge.