Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-nf276 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-19T23:44:29.783Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The perception of quantity ain't number: Missing the primacy of symbolic reference

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2021

Rafael E. Núñez Open the ORCID record for Rafael E. Núñez [Opens in a new window] ,
Francesco d'Errico ,
Russell D. Gray  and
Andrea Bender
Rafael E. Núñez
Affiliation:
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0515, USA. rnunez@ucsd.edu
Francesco d'Errico
Affiliation:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bordeaux, UMR 5199 De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Bâtiment B2, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615 Pessac, France. francesco.derrico@u-bordeaux.fr
Russell D. Gray
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany. gray@shh.mpg.de
Andrea Bender
Affiliation:
Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, N-5020 Bergen, Norway. andrea.bender@uib.no
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Clarke and Beck's defense of the theoretical construct “approximate number system” (ANS) is flawed in serious ways – from biological misconceptions to mathematical naïveté. The authors misunderstand behavioral/psychological technical concepts, such as numerosity and quantical cognition, which they disdain as “exotic.” Additionally, their characterization of rational numbers is blind to the essential role of symbolic reference in the emergence of number.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e199
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Barras, C. (2021). How did ancient humans learn to count. Nature, 594, 22–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beller, S., & Bender, A. (2008). The limits of counting: Numerical cognition between evolution and culture. Science (New York, N.Y.), 319, 213–215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, H., & Pérusse, R. (1988). Numerical competence in animals: Definitional issues, current evidence, and a new research agenda. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 11, 561–615.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deacon, T. (2011). The symbol concept. In Gibson, K. R. & Tallerman, M. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of language evolution (pp. 393–405). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
d'Errico, F., Doyon, L., Colagé, I., Queffelec, A., Le Vraux, E., Giacobini, G., … Maureille, B. (2018). From number sense to number symbols. An archaeological perspective. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 373(1740), 20160518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray, R. D., & Watts, J. (2017). Cultural macroevolution matters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114, 7846–7852.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Núñez, R. (2017a). Is there really an evolved capacity for number? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21, 409–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Núñez, R. (2017b). Number – Biological enculturation beyond natural selection. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21, 404–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, S. S. (1939/2006). On the problem of scales for the measurement of psychological magnitudes. Proceedings Fechner Day, 22, 23–27.Google Scholar
Stevens, S. S. (1951). Mathematics, measurement, and psychophysics. In Stevens, S. S. (Ed.), Handbook of experimental psychology (pp. 1–49), New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar