ArticlePLoS computational biology2017
The language of geometry: Fast comprehension of geometrical primitives and rules in human adults and preschoolers.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed.
- Neurophysiological dynamics of phrase-structure building during sentence processing.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017Trial
- Symbolic and non-symbolic geometric abilities across development and in individuals with dyscalculia and dyslexia.iScience · 2026Article
- Complexity is a unified cognitive kind.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Topological structure and the creation of visual complexity.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2026Article
- Continuity in geometric intuition between humans and monkeys.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Can neural networks model the human perception of geometric shapes?PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Robust representation of the spatial arrangement of topological features.Attention, perception & psychophysics · 2026Article
- Children use algorithm induction to discover patterns in data.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Intuitions of mathematical curves in young children's drawings.Cognition · 2026Article
- Impact of Education and Music Training on the Development of Abstract Thinking in the First Years of Schooling.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2026Article
- The neurobiology of human sequential signal prediction: Insights from language, music, and mathematics.Neuroscience research · 2026Review
- Earliest geometries: A cognitive investigation of Howiesons Poort engraved ostrich eggshells.PloS one · 2026Article
- From shape to number: Shape-from-dots homogeneity boosts groupitizing enumeration.Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2025Article
- Frontal Theta Modulation in Sequential Working Memory: the Impact of Spatial Regularity and Scenario.Brain topography · 2025Article
- Crows recognize geometric regularity.Science advances · 2025Article
- Mapping and modeling the semantic space of math concepts.Cognition · 2025Article
- Children's Understanding of Topological Relations.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2025Article
- Sensitivity to Geometric Shape Regularity Emerges Independently of Vision.Open mind : discoveries in cognitive science · 2025Article
- Symbolic metaprogram search improves learning efficiency and explains rule learning in humans.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Neurocognitive Assessment of Mathematics-Related Capacities in Neurosurgical Patients.Brain sciences · 2024Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
During language processing, humans form complex embedded representations from sequential inputs. Here, we ask whether a "geometrical language" with recursive embedding also underlies the human ability to encode sequences of spatial locations. We introduce a novel paradigm in which subjects are exposed to a sequence of spatial locations on an octagon, and are asked to predict future locations. The sequences vary in complexity according to a well-defined language comprising elementary primitives and recursive rules. A detailed analysis of error patterns indicates that primitives of symmetry and rotation are spontaneously detected and used by adults, preschoolers, and adult members of an indigene group in the Amazon, the Munduruku, who have a restricted numerical and geometrical lexicon and limited access to schooling. Furthermore, subjects readily combine these geometrical primitives into hierarchically organized expressions. By evaluating a large set of such combinations, we obtained a first view of the language needed to account for the representation of visuospatial sequences in humans, and conclude that they encode visuospatial sequences by minimizing the complexity of the structured expressions that capture them.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.