Abstract

This navigator chapter situates the chapters that comprise the section on the phylogeny and ontogeny of mathematical and numerical understanding. How is number represented in the absence of language? What are the key questions that arise as we map out the continuities and discontinuities between non-human and human numerical cognition? What can we learn from studying individual differences in numerical cognition? How do the initial representations of quantity in the infant give rise to the uniquely human mathematical mind? Can we use the knowledge we are gaining about how the preverbal mind represents and manipulate quantity to improve mathematics education?