一项研究发现，婴儿拥有直觉的、语前的数字感可能有助于预测其学龄前时期的数学能力。
教育和环境被认为能够影响数学技能。然而，科研人员对于人类独特的抽象数学概念的能力是否也受到婴儿期表现出的能力的影响这一问题存在争论。
Ariel Starr及其同事对48名6个月龄的婴儿的原始数字感进行了量化，数字感在进化的角度上来说是一种古老的能力，其能够对数字进行近似表示。
这组作者开启了一个任务来帮助监测了当观看一些数量改变的点阵的图像流的时候，这些婴儿的凝视情况。这些儿童在3年后重新回到了这个实验室，这组作者对他们进行了一组测试，评估了他们的符号数学能力、数字词知识、原始的数字感以及一般智力。这组作者发现6个月龄的语前数字感预测了同一批儿童3年后的标准化数学测试成绩，即便在这组作者控制了一般智力因素之后也是如此。
这组作者说，这些发现提示婴儿期的数字感为之后的数学能力提供了一个基本构件。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐的英文摘要
Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences of the United States of America doi: 10.1073/pnas.1302751110
Number sense in infancy predicts mathematical abilities in childhood
Ariel Starra，b，1， Melissa E. Libertusc，d，e， and Elizabeth M. Brannona，b
Human infants in the first year of life possess an intuitive sense of number. This preverbal number sense may serve as a developmental building block for the uniquely human capacity for mathematics. In support of this idea， several studies have demonstrated that nonverbal number sense is correlated with mathematical abilities in children and adults. However， there has been no direct evidence that infant numerical abilities are related to mathematical abilities later in childhood. Here， we provide evidence that preverbal number sense in infancy predicts mathematical abilities in preschool-aged children. Numerical preference scores at 6 months of age correlated with both standardized math test scores and nonsymbolic number comparison scores at 3.5 years of age， suggesting that preverbal number sense facilitates the acquisition of numerical symbols and mathematical abilities. This relationship held even after controlling for general intelligence， indicating that preverbal number sense imparts a unique contribution to mathematical ability. These results validate the many prior studies purporting to show number sense in infancy and support the hypothesis that mathematics is built upon an intuitive sense of number that predates language.
