The following message is from Mike Tarr:
The following message is from Mike Tarr:
Jessica Cantlon will deliver the Cowan Young Investigator Lecture on April 25th. Her cv is attached, and talk information is below. If you are interested in meeting with her, please send me your availability on 4/25.
Jessica Cantlon, Ph.D.
Brain & Cognitive Sciences
University of Rochester
Thursday, April 25, 2013
4:00 pm
Social Room, Mellon Institute
Math, Monkeys, and the Developing Brain
Thirty thousand years ago, humans kept track of numerical quantities by carving slashes on fragments of bone. There were no numerals and the counting system as we know it did not exist.What cognitive abilities enabled our ancestors to record tallies and conceive of counting in the first place? And, what is the physical substrate in the brain that makes quantitative thinking possible? Our research aims to discover the origins and organization of numerical concepts in humans using clues from child development, the organization of the human brain, and animal cognition.We argue that there is continuity between ancient and modern human numerical concepts in terms of their fundamental cognitive and neural processes.