ArticleCognition2018
Numerical cognition is resilient to dramatic changes in early sensory experience.
Article in Cognition, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Effects on nonverbal numerical acuity performance after a single-session transient random noise stimulation over the intraparietal sulcus or dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Ancient visual channels have a causal role in arithmetic calculations.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Approximate Number Sense in Students With Severe Hearing Loss: A Modality-Neutral Cognitive Ability.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Article
- Effects of Visual Training of Approximate Number Sense on Auditory Number Sense and School Math Ability.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Article
- Enhanced performance on a sentence comprehension task in congenitally blind adults.Language, cognition and neuroscience · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Humans and non-human animals can approximate large visual quantities without counting. The approximate number representations underlying this ability are noisy, with the amount of noise proportional to the quantity being represented. Numerate humans also have access to a separate system for representing exact quantities using number symbols and words; it is this second, exact system that supports most of formal mathematics. Although numerical approximation abilities and symbolic number abilities are distinct in representational format and in their phylogenetic and ontogenetic histories, they appear to be linked throughout development--individuals who can more precisely discriminate quantities without counting are better at math. The origins of this relationship are debated. On the one hand, symbolic number abilities may be directly linked to, perhaps even rooted in, numerical approximation abilities. On the other hand, the relationship between the two systems may simply reflect their independent relationships with visual abilities. To test this possibility, we asked whether approximate number and symbolic math abilities are linked in congenitally blind individuals who have never experienced visual sets or used visual strategies to learn math. Congenitally blind and blind-folded sighted participants completed an auditory numerical approximation task, as well as a symbolic arithmetic task and non-math control tasks. We found that the precision of approximate number representations was identical across congenitally blind and sighted groups, suggesting that the development of the Approximate Number System (ANS) does not depend on visual experience. Crucially, the relationship between numerical approximation and symbolic math abilities is preserved in congenitally blind individuals. These data support the idea that the Approximate Number System and symbolic number abilities are intrinsically linked, rather than indirectly linked through visual abilities.
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Registered trials
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.