Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-s9k8s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-11T22:11:39.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Do infants count like scientists?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2009

Andreas Wiefel
Affiliation:
Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany. andreas.wiefel@charite.dehttp://kjp.charite.de/patienten/baby_und_kleinkindsprechstunde/
Sabina Pauen
Affiliation:
Department for Developmental Psychology, University of Heidelberg, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany. sabina@pauen.nethttp://www.sabina-pauen.de
Michael Dueck
Affiliation:
Department for Anaesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care, University of Cologne, D-50937 Köln, Germany. michael.dueck@uk-koeln.dehttp://cms.uk-koeln.de/anaesthesiologie/content/index_ger.html

Abstract

We discuss methodological problems and present our own empirical data on calculation tasks in toddlers. We propose to develop enriching theoretical models concerning quantity representations, based on empirical findings from developmental psychology. A revitalization of the debate is worthy, because it is reminiscent of the philosophical dispute on universal entities in scholasticism and Plato's theory of ideal numbers.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Engel, A. K., Moll, C. K., Fried, I. & Ojemann, G. A. (2005) Invasive recordings from the human brain: Clinical insights and beyond. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6(1):3547.Google Scholar
Fonagy, P. & Target, M. (2003) Psychoanalytic theories: Perspectives from developmental psychopathology. Whurr.Google Scholar
Logothetis, N. K. (2008) What we can do and what we cannot do with fMRI. Nature 453(7197):869–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzoff, A. (1990) Towards a developmental cognitive science: The implications of cross-model matching and imitation for the development of representation and memory in infancy. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 608:137.Google Scholar
Pauen, S. (in preparation) How 4–5 year-olds profit from mathematical training in preschool.Google Scholar
Spelke, E. (2000) Core knowledge. American Psychologist 55:1233–43.Google Scholar