Challenging Piaget

In the article, "How to Build a Better Learner" in Scientific American Mind (Winter 2015), Gary Stix reviewed recent brain research developments and made the following observation:

"This line of research contradicts that of famed psychologists Jean Piaget, who contended that brains of infants are blank slates... when it comes to making calculations in the crib.  Children, in Piaget's view, have to develop a basic idea of what a number is from years of interacting with blocks, Cheerios, or other objects.  They eventually learn that when the little oat rings get pushed around a table, the location differs, but the number stays the same.

"The neuroscience community has amassed a body of research showing that humans and other animals have a basic numerical sense.  Babies, of course, do not spring from the womb performing differential equations in their heads.  But experiments have found that toddlers will routinely reach for the row of M&Ms that has the most candies.  And other research has demonstrated that even infants only a few months old comprehend relative size.  If they see five objects being hidden behind a screen and then another five added to the first set, they convey surprise if they see only five with the screen is removed."

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