Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-85 next last
To: phantomworker

Hi Phantom! Ummm, I noticed you mentioned something about a math ping list and I just wanted to..ummmm..say....you don't need to worry about adding me to the list. :-) Just kidding. I hope you had a great day!


61 posted on 01/21/2006 8:17:45 PM PST by Emmalein (To each his/her own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: Emmalein
Well, thank you. What did you do today? What do you think of this article?

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,"

I think geometry is very basic to human understanding of the universe such a navigation and sailing. How about you?

62 posted on 01/21/2006 8:25:28 PM PST by phantomworker (Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: grania
So, if you know a child who can't do or learn Geometry, bring him or her out to play! ( Grania)

To Grania,

My, now adult, homeschoolers rarely spent more than 2 hours a day in formal studies. The remainder of their day was spent in highly active, highly creative, and very intense play.

They were admitted to community college by the ages of 13,12, and 13. All three finished all their general courses and the highest level of college calculus by the age of 15. The two younger earned B.S. degrees in mathematics at the age of 18. The middle children finished a masters degree in math at the age of 20. The oldest majored in accounting. He is nationally and internationally ranked athlete. Age the age of 19 he left for two years on a church assignment in Eastern Europe and recently returned fluent in Russian. Before leaving on this project he was a mere 13 courses shy of a B.S. degree in accounting. He is in the process of finishing his education while training full time in his sport.

I credit PLAY with my children's academic success. It was through play that they learned to concentrate intensely for sustained periods of time. Some of their projects extended over several years, ( literally). How can children learn to concentrate if their day is continually interrupted by bells, whistles, and adult imposed schedules.

It was an amazing process to watch. Gradually, the energy expended on intense play was transformed into adult interests and talents.

Their mathematical achievements were only possible because these children were homeschooled.
63 posted on 01/21/2006 8:46:58 PM PST by wintertime
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: edcoil; Pharmboy

It would appear that geometric thinking, which is needed in navigation would be a survival of the fittest skill and those who had it, had better chances of survival. Without navigation skills, the hunters and gatherers were stuck in one place or might constantly be getting lost! LOL

Navigation skills on the water was another survival skill needed as civilization progressed. Those without knowledge of basic geometry for navigation were at a disadvantage, evolutionarily speaking.


64 posted on 01/21/2006 9:01:22 PM PST by phantomworker (Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: wintertime
I credit PLAY with my children's academic success

It seems like you did an excellent job, integrating play and academics. One aspect of play that's often ignored is that it should at least sometimes be creative and a bit disorganized. Maybe provide some direction or suggestion, but give the child some space for natural development.

My son was fortunate enough to be brought up in an environment where the kids could do things...ride bikes, fish, build things, invent rules for baseball around the number or players, etc. It's amazing...everyone of those kids has grown into a responsible adult, with careers that somehow relate to their preferences when they were "playing"!

65 posted on 01/22/2006 5:04:52 AM PST by grania ("Won't get fooled again")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: phantomworker
I think geometry is very basic to human understanding of the universe such a navigation and sailing. How about you?

I agree and I think it's something you either have or you don't. The brain needs to be able to manipulate the spatial data and if someone doesn't "see" the relationships they can't do it. Learning something doesn't mean that it's understood and can be be put to use.

I thought everyone had the same ability for "seeing" that I did until I took one of those lovely scholastic aptitude tests in school. I scored in the 99th percentile in Spatital Relations and Abstract Reasoning. The funniest part of that test was that they thought I was a guy, because, as I'm sure you know, women (girls) don't score high in those areas. ;-)

66 posted on 01/22/2006 7:09:44 AM PST by Emmalein (To each his/her own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy

(...ducking)

67 posted on 01/22/2006 7:13:59 AM PST by TADSLOS (Right Wing Infidel since 1954)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TADSLOS

LOL Too funny!


68 posted on 01/22/2006 7:38:43 AM PST by Emmalein (To each his/her own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Old Professer
What is better displayed here is the seeming fact that not all children come equipped with the same ability to intuit the obvious and that is a phenomenon for social study, not the science of mathematics, per se.

Ah-ha! Interesting thought. Thank you.

69 posted on 01/22/2006 7:49:15 AM PST by Emmalein (To each his/her own.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Emmalein

What you say is very interesting! Thank you. We must be wired very similarly then. I also scored high in spatial relations. I like to think it is similar to intuition, but who knows, that's a whole 'nother area of study. I didn't know it was a male/female thing. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

Going to Newport Beach today for a statistical reliability and maintainability symposium. (yes, I am a nerd.) Wonder if there are any other FReepers in that part of So Cal? Wonder what the weather will be like?


70 posted on 01/22/2006 8:05:57 AM PST by phantomworker (Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: TADSLOS; Emmalein; Pharmboy

I think I posted this on the wrong thread yesterday. Ever hear of the Golden Ratio? A very incredible geometric spatial relationship that was used in ancient architecture! Mind boggling. I love it!

http://www.jimloy.com/geometry/golden.htm



71 posted on 01/22/2006 8:20:01 AM PST by phantomworker (Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: phantomworker

Intuit; what is it normally?


72 posted on 01/22/2006 8:36:31 AM PST by Old Professer (Fix the problem, not the blame!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: Old Professer

Don't understand what you mean. What is known about intuition?


73 posted on 01/22/2006 8:40:28 AM PST by phantomworker (Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy
Amazonian hunter-gatherers who lack written language and who have never
seen a math book score highly on basic tests of geometric concepts,...


Heck, they are aren't suffering the residual brain damage from being
institutionalized in a lower-rung public school for grades 1-12!
Thus, they have an unfair advantage over a lot of Americans!!!
74 posted on 01/22/2006 8:57:10 AM PST by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy
"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."

"Never let your schooling interfere with your education." Mark Twain

75 posted on 01/22/2006 9:02:12 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

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

I once had a deck of cards with an insert encouraging parents to play cards with their kids in order to promote counting and arithmetic skills.

76 posted on 01/22/2006 7:12:29 PM PST by Virginia-American
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: tertiary01

A long time ago my mother maxed the New York State Regents exam in geometry. She was Irish. She came from a line of Irish Lacemakers and seamstresses. Look at those Celtic designs and ask yourself if they are not intricately and exactly geometric?


77 posted on 01/22/2006 7:27:34 PM PST by mathurine (ua)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: RobbyS; Pharmboy; Alamo-Girl
From National Academy Press

In fact, many believed that Euclid’s was the only geometry that the human mind was capable of knowing. Immanuel Kant, the influential eighteenth-century philosopher, taught that Euclidean geometry was ordained to be true by the very structure of the human intellect; space could not even be conceived to be otherwise. Therefore, Kant concluded, Euclidean geometry was an example of synthetic a priori knowledge—it was a truth about the world that could be known to be true without doing any experiments.

Kant, of course, was all wet, but many people believed him anyway Carl Friedrich Gauss, however, saw through Kant’s overconfidence.

Gauss, the greatest mathematician since Newton, realized that geometry could, logically, be construed in a way different from Euclid’s. Unfortunately Gauss was a perfectionist, who was therefore reticent about publishing...

More discussion:
On Gauss' Mountains and
Riemann for Anti-Dummies Part 47

78 posted on 01/22/2006 7:28:05 PM PST by Virginia-American
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: Pharmboy

ULTIMATE PROOF OF CREATIONISM BUMP!


79 posted on 01/22/2006 7:29:13 PM PST by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Netheron

I should have pinged you as well


80 posted on 01/22/2006 7:29:59 PM PST by Virginia-American
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-85 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson