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Arabic Numerals

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

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Nonhuman animals are implicitly sensitive to numerosity that does not require symbolic verbal representation of the numbers and does not require a counting repertoire (e.g., an analog magnitude system). In addition, with training, animals can demonstrate sensitivity to numerosity in a more precise manner that is aided by symbolic representation of numbers – such as Arabic numerals. Animals’ use of numerals indicates a sense of “cardinality” regarding numerosity, and is a central feature of more advanced mathematical cognition. Comparative numerical cognition research has focused on whether animals can use Arabic numerals in a similar way to how humans use numerals, and what that may tell us about the basic cognitive processes that underlie the symbolic understanding of numerosity.

One approach to evaluating whether animals can represent numerosity symbolically is to have them appropriately match a numeral to some number of items (i.e., provide a cardinal label such as a numeral or...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Travis R. Smith & Michael J. Beran

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  1. Travis R. Smith
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  2. Michael J. Beran
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Correspondence to Travis R. Smith .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University , Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University Department of Psychology, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Southern Oregon University, 97520, Ashland, OR, USA

    Mark A. Krause

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Smith, T.R., Beran, M.J. (2017). Arabic Numerals. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1102-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1102-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

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