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Updated: May 28, 2025

Understanding Cerebellar Pattern Formation
Published on: November 1, 2007
Who is afraid of innate knowledge?
1Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 20115, United States.
None:
The fascinating results of Lorenzi et al. (2025) suggest that the number sense is innate. Many readers might find this conclusion disturbing. Here, I explore the deep cognitive origins of this sentiment. Empiricism, I suggest, is deeply grounded in human nature. This conclusion obviously does not license us to assume that knowledge is innate, but it does suggest caution against heeding our skeptical gut reaction.
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