The neural basis of ‘number sense’ in young infants

February 7, 2008 | Source: PhysOrg.com

Research reported in PLoS Biology shows that very young infants are sensitive to both the number and identity of objects, and these pieces of information are processed by distinct neural pathways.

3-months-old infants were watching images of objects where the number or identity of objects occasionally changed. Electrical activity measured on the scalp showed that the infant brain responded to both changes, but in different brain regions, which map onto the same regions that activate in adults.