How Can Children Do Math Like Adults?
The article presents the results of a study to examine the neural basis of higher-order cognition among 4-year-old children conducted by researchers at Duke University in North Carolina. The study found that children who still are developing numerical abilities show activity in the same brain region during numerical tasks as do math-adept adults. According to lead researcher Jessica Cantlon, it seems like children possessed basic set of math skills in their early development. The study suggests that the human brain is prepared for basic mathematics at an early age and that these same neural circuits continue to process mathematical information over the whole course of development into adulthood.