A new study suggests that babies' math ability during their sixth month could predict the level of their mathematical skills when they grow up.
Prof. Elizabeth Brannon, lead author of the study from North Carolina's Duke University, said that this may be a significant factor in laying down a foundation for the child to learn math in the future.
Researchers assessed 48 infants who were six months old. They used a new method which they had designed for this particular study.
The numbers aptitude test for babies let them score each baby on their primitive sense of numbers. The test involves showing two screens that illustrate black and white dots in various patterns. What makes the two screens different is that the first screen only shows the same number of dots and the only things that change is the sizes and arrangement of the dots. The other screen, however, show changes in the quantity of dots.
Babies who have a better sense of numbers will find the screen with changing number of dots more interesting and will stare intently at it. When they are fed with a series of screens of eight dots and then shown a pattern of 16 dots, they will notice and look intently at the screen. This is true even if the patterns for the eight-dot and the 16-dot screens are the same.
On the other hand, those with less primitive numerical skills would stare without any difference in how long they look at both screens. This means that they are unable to distinguish the difference of the eight dot screen against the sixteen dots on the screen.
After conducting the first stage of the test, they documented how well the babies perceived the numbered dots they came back to follow-up on the same kids after three years. The children were then given four types of tests: a general aptitude exam, a standard mathematical exam, a comprehension test on word problems, and finally the last test which is a more advanced version of the test the children took when they were still babies.
Amazingly, those kids who had fared better at the infant aptitude test also had better scores in the math tests compared to the rest of the group. This numerical ability however could not be associated to the general aptitude of the kids which leads the researchers to infer that primitive numerical abilities are particularly influential in math abilities alone.
According to Brannon, numerical ability is a result of experience, education and motivation but the results of the study indeed provide some significance in developing children at the early stages.
"It may explain some of the differences in how easy children find it to learn," Brannon told LiveScience.
The study was published in the Oct. 22 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
