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Geometry may be hard-wired into brain, study shows
Reuters ^ | Thu Jan 19, 2006 | Anon

Posted on 01/20/2006 3:11:23 AM PST by Pharmboy

Amazonian hunter-gatherers who lack written language and who have never seen a math book score highly on basic tests of geometric concepts, researchers said on Thursday in a study that suggests geometry may be hard-wired into the brain.

Adults and children alike showed a clear grasp of concepts such as where the center of a circle is and the logical extension of a straight line, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Science.

Stanislas Dehaene of the College de France in Paris and colleagues tested 14 children and 30 adults of an Amazonian group called the Munduruku, and compared their findings to tests of U.S. adults and children.

"Munduruku children and adults spontaneously made use of basic geometric concepts such as points, lines, parallelism, or right angles to detect intruders in simple pictures, and they used distance, angle, and sense relationships in geometrical maps to locate hidden objects," they wrote.

"Our results provide evidence for geometrical intuitions in the absence of schooling, experience with graphic symbols or maps, or a rich language of geometrical terms."

Geometry is an ancient field and Dehaene's team postulated that it may spring from innate abilities.

"Many of its propositions -- that two points determine a line, or that three orthogonal axes localize a point -- are judged to be self-evident and yet have been questioned on the basis of logical argument, physical theory, or experiment," the researchers wrote.

There was no way the Munduruku could have learned these ideas, they added.

"Most of the children and adults who took part in our experiments inhabit scattered, isolated villages and have little or no schooling, rulers, compasses, or maps," they wrote.

"Furthermore, the Munduruku language has few words dedicated to arithmetical, geometrical, or spatial concepts, although a variety of metaphors are spontaneously used."

They designed arrays of six images, each of which contained five conforming to a geometric concept and one that violated it.

"The participants were asked, in their language, to point to the weird or ugly one," the researchers wrote.

"All participants, even those aged 6, performed well above the chance level of 16.6 percent," they found. The average score was nearly 67 percent correct -- identical to the score for U.S. children.

"The spontaneous understanding of geometrical concepts and maps by this remote human community provides evidence that core geometrical knowledge, like basic arithmetic, is a universal constituent of the human mind," they concluded.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: brain; cognition; crevolist; hardwired; hunting; math; southamerica
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Geometric constructs are key to understanding a 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional world. This is not surprising.
1 posted on 01/20/2006 3:11:26 AM PST by Pharmboy
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To: PatrickHenry; blam; voletti; aculeus; SunkenCiv; Physicist; thefactor

Math ping...for your personal interests and not meant for you to ping your lists.


2 posted on 01/20/2006 3:14:51 AM PST by Pharmboy (The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones.)
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To: Pharmboy

Geometry is crucial to land navigation. It's not surprising that hunters understand


3 posted on 01/20/2006 3:26:38 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (A planned society is most appealing to those with the hubris to think they will be the planners)
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To: Pharmboy

They should've done their study in a pool hall... er... billiards parlor.


4 posted on 01/20/2006 3:30:03 AM PST by Pete'sWife (Dirt is for racing... asphalt is for getting there.)
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To: Pharmboy
"Adults and children alike showed a clear grasp of concepts such as where the center of a circle is and the logical extension of a straight line, the researchers report in this week's issue of the journal Science"

My geometry course was more demanding than this but then, I went to a Catholic High School

5 posted on 01/20/2006 3:33:28 AM PST by muir_redwoods (Free Sirhan Sirhan, after all, the bastard who killed Mary Jo Kopechne is walking around free)
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To: Pharmboy
"All participants, even those aged 6, performed well above the chance level of 16.6 percent," they found. The average score was nearly 67 percent correct -- identical to the score for U.S. children.

So, primitive hunter-gatherers who have never been inside a classroom score as high on geometry as American children who are being "educated" at $10,000 per head per year.

6 posted on 01/20/2006 3:43:52 AM PST by Junior (Identical fecal matter, alternate diurnal period)
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To: Junior

Great point...don't tell the teacher's union.


7 posted on 01/20/2006 3:48:19 AM PST by Pharmboy (The stone age didn't end because they ran out of stones.)
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To: SauronOfMordor
"Many of its propositions -- that two points determine a line, or that three orthogonal axes localize a point -- are judged to be self-evident and yet have been questioned on the basis of logical argument, physical theory, or experiment," the researchers wrote.

There was no way the Munduruku could have learned these ideas, they added.


They are self evident to all but mathematicians! Even the most primitive tribesman knows that the shortest way to go from point A to point B is a straight line! Three axis defines a point – go east 100 paces, turn north go 50 paces. Climb up 4 body lengths. A point has been defined. What did they have to learn from a book?
8 posted on 01/20/2006 3:52:04 AM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: Junior

"So, primitive hunter-gatherers who have never been inside a classroom score as high on geometry as American children who are being "educated" at $10,000 per head per year."

But US students educated at 10,000/year can read and write whereas the "primitive" hunters cannot - er, well, never mind.


9 posted on 01/20/2006 3:53:17 AM PST by razoroccam (Then in the name of Allah, they will let loose the Germs of War (http://www.booksurge.com))
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To: Pharmboy
"Many of its propositions -- that two points determine a line, or that three orthogonal axes localize a point -- are judged to be self-evident and yet have been questioned on the basis of logical argument, physical theory, or experiment," the researchers wrote.

Oooh, we have grant money to spend! Let's question obvious, self evident minutiae!

yay for science!

10 posted on 01/20/2006 3:57:44 AM PST by ovrtaxt (I looked for common sense with a telescope. All I could see was the moon of Uranus.)
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To: razoroccam

I speculate that this concept could be turned around, using pictures like this to reinforce intuitive ideas of geometric concepts before the formalities are introduced. Such as work on boosting the 67% picture choosing scores to something much higher using colloquial explanations of the differences.


11 posted on 01/20/2006 3:59:21 AM PST by HiTech RedNeck
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To: Pharmboy
Chimpanzees have been documented in their ability to continually locate and find their own chimp-made tools (special rocks for breaking nuts, etc) that they store in different areas of their territory. Based on the descriptions I read of the process, they must have been using geometric reasoning and a mental map to do this.

Other animals may rely primarily on scent and scent-memory for finding things -- but it would seem that primates evolved with a different set of capabilities to solve the same problem.

12 posted on 01/20/2006 4:06:40 AM PST by WL-law
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To: Junior
So, primitive hunter-gatherers who have never been inside a classroom score as high on geometry as American children who are being "educated" at $10,000 per head per year.

High School Geometry is easily mastered by students if the basis of real-world concepts is in place.

Many students need to re-visit childhood activities ... drawing maps, writing directions, designing something to build or arrange, basic play and games, etc.

Computer activities and xeroxed work sheets can work for lots of necessary pre-requisites to Geometry success, but the hands-on aspects early man wired our brains with created the need for hands-on real-world type experiences to fully develop them.

So, if you know a child who can't do or learn Geometry, bring him or her out to play!

13 posted on 01/20/2006 4:09:07 AM PST by grania ("Won't get fooled again")
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To: SauronOfMordor
Eggs-actly.
14 posted on 01/20/2006 4:16:34 AM PST by kinsman redeemer (the real enemy seeks to devour what is good)
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To: Pete'sWife
LOL - very good!

but be sure to use a little "running english" to make sure that geometry is not overcome by physics.

15 posted on 01/20/2006 4:18:20 AM PST by kinsman redeemer (the real enemy seeks to devour what is good)
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To: razoroccam

Do you believe that 67% of government school education children in the country can read and write?


16 posted on 01/20/2006 5:17:28 AM PST by OldFriend (The Dems enABLEd DANGER and 3,000 Americans died.)
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To: TR Jeffersonian

ping


17 posted on 01/20/2006 5:21:02 AM PST by kalee
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To: Pharmboy; RadioAstronomer; longshadow; Doctor Stochastic; tortoise; Right Wing Professor; ...

Great thread. Wouldja believe it, I once toyed with the idea of a math ping list. I didn't assemble many names, and I soon dropped the project. Someone else should pick it up. Anyway, this topic is broader than math, so I'll add a few others ...


18 posted on 01/20/2006 5:40:56 AM PST by PatrickHenry (Virtual Ignore for trolls, lunatics, dotards, scolds, & incurable ignoramuses.)
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To: WL-law

And somewhere a honeybee is doing a happy dance...playing charades...and using geometry. :)


19 posted on 01/20/2006 5:54:15 AM PST by Graymatter
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To: All
This is neat. I was always really bad at most advanced math but geometry was such a no brainer for me. It was so simple and easy for me to grasp the concepts. I always wondered why that was the case. I spent my youth in the woods and navigation is what I am best at doing. I always know what direction I am facing regardless of the situation and stuff like that. I did get lost in Prague once. I kept trying to get to the dang river and kept going the wrong direction. It was either jet lag or absinthe I'm not sure which.
20 posted on 01/20/2006 6:10:33 AM PST by The Toll
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