Science explains why we need words to define numbers

a Tsimane peopleLiving in the remote forests of Bolivia, they often delve into research because the individuals who make up them, according to scientists, offer The healthiest hearts in the world. Residents recently took part in a new academic study, this time to assess the importance of numbers in their lives, allowing to infer how that might vary depending on how much each person can count. But let’s go in order and try to understand what that means.

Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California suggests that The relationship between individuals’ ability to count and their success in completing tasks which assumed the counting numbers were about 25. The researchers found that most people could accurately perform tasks that required matching objects, but only for the highest number they could count.

The result suggests that to represent a specific quantity greater than four, people must have a word for that number, notes Edward Gibson, a professor of cognitive and brain sciences. “This result provides us with the clearest evidence yet that the number translated into words plays a role. Functional role in people’s ability to represent minute quantities is greater than four and supports a broader idea that words allow for new conceptual capabilities. “

In 2014, another study described that Tsimane children learn the meaning of words translating numbers in the same way that children in countries and villages do. industrial societies. That is, they learn first.one two Three‘, in sequence. From there, there is a radical change in the understanding and perception of meanings. “five” and the “six”, But also for all the other numerical words they know.

In industrial societies, which place great importance on numbers, children begin to learn counting at the age of two and develop a well-developed understanding at the age of four or five. However, in Tsimane there are no children The way is differentand learning even later, from about the age of five to eight.

In this new study, the researchers identified 15 tsimani who could count between six and 20, as well as another 15 who could at least reach 40. This gave the scientists the opportunity to compare the two groups with different counting skills to test the hypothesis. That without digital representations people can do perform tasks Ask them to create a file Mental representation of numbers greater than four.

For this, the research team used a task known as orthogonal congruence. In the simplest step, the researchers presented a series of objects, such as batteries, and then asked the participants to arrange an equivalent number of different objects, such as spools of thread. With orthogonal matching, the objects are shown in a horizontal line, but the participants must align the corresponding number vertically so that they cannot match one by one.

consequences

The MIT team found that the Tsimane people were able to accomplish this task, but a little less than they could count. That is, those who can count up to 10 will start losing when asked to multiply eight or nine items, while those who can count up to 15 will start missing around 13 or 14.

The results indicate that the file Tasks that require number crunching can only be performed using numeric words or other explicit numerical representation systems.