News Release

Number line is learned, not innate human intuition

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

The concept of number lines, a hallmark of elementary math classrooms, does not reflect universal human intuition, and instead appears to be learned, based on a study of an indigenous group in Papua New Guinea. The full results are published Apr. 25 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.

Rafael Núñez of University of California, San Diego led the research team, which found that unschooled adults from a remote group in Papua New Guinea mapped numbers onto space, but when placing numbers on a line, they only used the endpoints—a categorical response, rather than intermediate points on the line. In contrast, individuals from the same ethnic group who had received formal education used the entire number line, not just the endpoints, showing that this more nuanced metric-driven understanding of the line can be learned and enforced by education and cultural practices.

###

Citation: Nunez R, Cooperrider K, Wassmann J (2012) Number Concepts without Number Lines in an Indigenous Group of Papua New Guinea. PLoS ONE 7(4):e35662. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035662

Financial Disclosure: This work was supported by the University of California San Diego (UCSD) (Academic Senate Grant COG386G-07427A to RN), an Institute for Advanced Studies in Berlin fellowship (RN), a UCSD Friends of the International Center fellowship (KC), and the Marsilius Kolleg Heidelberg (JW). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035662

Disclaimer: This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLoS ONE. The releases have been provided by the article authors and/or journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the release and article and your use of such information.

About PLoS ONE

PLoS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.

All works published in PLoS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed. For more information about PLoS ONE relevant to journalists, bloggers and press officers, including details of our press release process and our embargo policy, see the everyONE blog at http://everyone.plos.org/media.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.