JAB
2023-11-13 11:47:15 UTC
Why the Human Brain Perceives Small Numbers Better
The discovery that the brain has different systems for representing
small and large numbers provokes new questions about memory, attention
and mathematics.
More than 150 years ago, the economist and philosopher William Stanley
Jevons discovered something curious about the number 4. While musing
about how the mind conceives of numbers, he tossed a handful of black
beans into a cardboard box. Then, after a fleeting glance, he guessed
how many there were, before counting them to record the true value.
After more than 1,000 trials, he saw a clear pattern. When there were
four or fewer beans in the box, he always guessed the right number.
But for five beans or more, his quick estimations were often
incorrect.
Jevons' description of his self-experiment, published in Nature in
1871, set the "foundation of how we think about numbers," said Steven
Piantadosi, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the
University of California, Berkeley. It sparked a long-lasting and
ongoing debate about why there seems to be a limit on the number of
items we can accurately judge to be present in a set.
Now, a new study in Nature Human Behaviour has edged closer to an
answer by taking an unprecedented look at how human brain cells fire
when presented with certain quantities. Its findings suggest that the
brain uses a combination of two mechanisms to judge how many objects
it sees. One estimates quantities. The second sharpens the accuracy of
those estimates -- but only for small numbers.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-human-brain-perceives-small-numbers-better-20231109/
The discovery that the brain has different systems for representing
small and large numbers provokes new questions about memory, attention
and mathematics.
More than 150 years ago, the economist and philosopher William Stanley
Jevons discovered something curious about the number 4. While musing
about how the mind conceives of numbers, he tossed a handful of black
beans into a cardboard box. Then, after a fleeting glance, he guessed
how many there were, before counting them to record the true value.
After more than 1,000 trials, he saw a clear pattern. When there were
four or fewer beans in the box, he always guessed the right number.
But for five beans or more, his quick estimations were often
incorrect.
Jevons' description of his self-experiment, published in Nature in
1871, set the "foundation of how we think about numbers," said Steven
Piantadosi, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the
University of California, Berkeley. It sparked a long-lasting and
ongoing debate about why there seems to be a limit on the number of
items we can accurately judge to be present in a set.
Now, a new study in Nature Human Behaviour has edged closer to an
answer by taking an unprecedented look at how human brain cells fire
when presented with certain quantities. Its findings suggest that the
brain uses a combination of two mechanisms to judge how many objects
it sees. One estimates quantities. The second sharpens the accuracy of
those estimates -- but only for small numbers.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-the-human-brain-perceives-small-numbers-better-20231109/