BS 170 is an interview with Andreas Nieder, author of A Brain for Numbers: The Biology of the Number Instinct. We talk about the surprising discovery that a wide variety of animals have a number instinct, which is called the approximate number system. This appears to provide the basis for the more abstract mathematical abilities that are seen in humans. We also explore the relationship between mathematics and language.

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Links and References:

• Andreas Nieder, PhD, University of Tübingen (Germany); publications

• A Brain for Numbers: The Biology of the Number Instinct  by Andreas Nieder

• The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics, Revised and Updated Edition (2011) by Stanislas Dehaene

• Weber’s law—the higher the numerical values become the larger the distance between them has to be to detect the difference

• Fechner’s Law:—the subjective sensation of a stimulus is proportional to the logarithm of the objective stimulus magnitude. See Wikipedia for Weber-Fechner law.

• Brannon, E M, Terrace HS (1998). The ordering of the numerosities 1-9 by monkeys. Science, 282, 746-749.

• Howard SR, et-al, (2018) Numerical ordering of zero in honey bees. Science, 360,1124-1126.

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