Duh!

A 4 1/2 month old has no language skills to speak of and is just tuning in to the complex series of phonemes that they hear uttered by the people around them. Their visual world is much richer, though a bit fuzzy, so it stands to reason their brain would be adapted to first detect changes in large numbers of objects, then slowly enhance that ability to discriminate smaller and smaller numbers as their visual acuity increases along with their fine motor coordination.

I have really got to get me some of this grant money.

Well, my favorite book as an infant was Learning to Count with Twelve Elves, so I guess that explains why I'm such a genius now.

That kid is gonna have a wild perm! I can understand why numbers would work, as they are less abstract than words. The brain is hardwired to sort and catagorize, and that requires some factory-installed software that allows for numbers.

Am I the only one who thinks the pictures is just a bit creepy looking?

@NefariousNewt: I read...somewhere, probably in an Oliver Sacks book, about people that had strokes that affected the "math" parts of their brains. And because there's a fuction of your brain that's designed specifically to count, add, and subtract, if you get a stroke there, you can lose that ability.

But! If that happens, your ability to multiply is not lost, because times tables are learned by rote.

I always thought that was awesome.

Creepy looking? Hmmm, maybe a little. I tend to think it's high-tech weird-o-ramma stuff. You know, where you take your kid to be programmed with downloading. Or maybe it's where really busy parents take their kids so they can have a virtual play date.

@braak: We don't all use the same methods to multiply numbers. You can actually do the calculation, you can do the calculation with learned shortcuts, or you can memorize tables. Schools try to get kids to memorize tables, but I think its a sucky way to learn how numbers work. I never memorized my multiplication tables, nor did a lot of people I know. Instead some of us form an understanding of how the numbers relate, and use shortcuts to calculate individually, only memorizing the most commonly done equations as a side effect.

This explains how the people at Fox News are able to exist. Their baby-like brains, which cannot deal with rational thought, drift more towards the incredibly interesting numbers in their paychecks.

Its all ones and zeros to me anyway.

@grenacia: Well, then you'll be in trouble if you have a stroke in your Frontal Calculation Lobe, or whatever it is.

Well my 3yr old could count (at about 1yr old out loud) before he learned to talk... ( he learned to count both foward and backwards)
But he also did have a steady diet of Sesame Street starting at 6 months, mainly because we had to distract him long enough to shower or do anything else.

So don't listen to the anti-TV crowd, if you allow them to watch the right programs, they will learn faster.

@dOk: But doesn't the counting aloud more or less involve talking?

My kids are only watching porno until they're at least ten, because I don't want them to grow up with any of those crazy Western sexual hangups.

@moff: Also, I would really resent having to change the channel.

That picture is scarier than any horror film I've seen in a decade.

I for one welcome our baby overlords.

Now there's a child that may need some therapy. "Then when I was 4 months old Mom and Dad let some crazy scientist cover my head in electrodes...."

Wow... that kid looks like a tech-oriented Medusa.

Smith! 6079 Smith W! No pacifiers!

I'm calling foul. There's no way they could get a 4 month old to keep that crazy hat on their head unless they restrained them. The study should say "children who are tied down can recognize numbers earlier..."

That baby is how I'd imagine the twins from Matrix Reloaded to look like as children.

"Let's watch Junior's EEG during hour 30 of our Teletubbies immersion experiment"

There is no spoon.

But there are three extra butter knives and too many napkins.

Oh, yeah...
Seventy-two wires coming out of my head.
..yeah...
Definitely seventy-two, definitely.