Exact and approximate arithmetic in an Amazonian indigene group
Exact and approximate arithmetic in an Amazonian indigene group
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DOI：
10.1126/science.1102085
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发表时间：
2004-10-15
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Dehaene, S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Pica, P;Lemer, C;Dehaene, S
没有语言，计算是可能的吗？或者，人类的算术能力取决于语言能力吗？为了阐明语言和算术之间的关系，我们研究了说蒙杜鲁库语的人的数字认知。蒙杜鲁库语是亚马逊语系的一种数字词词典很小的语言。虽然蒙杜鲁克人没有超过5的数字的单词，但他们能够比较和相加远远超出他们命名范围的大的近似数字。然而，它们在数字大于4或5的精确算术中失败。我们的结果暗示了非语言数字近似系统与基于语言的精确数字和算术计数系统之间的区别。
Is calculation possible without language? Or is the human ability for arithmetic dependent on the language faculty? To clarify the relation between language and arithmetic, we studied numerical cognition in speakers of Munduruku, an Amazonian language with a very small lexicon of number words. Although the Munduruku lack words for numbers beyond 5, they are able to compare and add large approximate numbers that are far beyond their naming range. However, they fail in exact arithmetic with numbers larger than 4 or 5. Our results imply a distinction between a nonverbal system of number approximation and a language-based counting system for exact number and arithmetic.