Is integer arithmetic fundamental to mental processing? The mind's secret arithmetic

Allan W. Snyder*, D. John Mitchell

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    69 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Unlike the ability to acquire our native language, we struggle to learn multiplication and division. It may then come as a surprise that the mental machinery for performing lightning-fast integer arithmetic calculations could be within us all even though it cannot be readily accessed, nor do we have any idea of its primary function. We are led to this provocative hypothesis by analysing the extraordinary skills of autistic savants. In our view such individuals have privileged access to lower levels of information not normally available through introspection.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)587-592
    Number of pages6
    JournalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
    Volume266
    Issue number1419
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 22 Mar 1999

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