Core knowledge of number: A comparative approach.

Studies on the ontogenetic origins of human knowledge provide evidence for a small set of separable systems of core knowledge dealing with the representation of inanimate and animate objects, number and geometry. Because core knowledge systems are evolutionarily ancient, they can be investigated from a comparative perspective, making use of various animal models. Here, I discuss evidence showing precocious abilities in non-human species to represent the cardinal and sequential aspects of numerical cognition with large and small numerousness, and rudimentary arithmetic with small numerousness. Studies suggest that the abilities associated with core knowledge systems of number are observed in animals in the absence (or with very reduced) experience, supporting a nativistic foundation of such cognitive mechanisms.