Fast comprehension of geometrical primitives and rules in human adults and preschoolers

International audienceFast comprehension of embedded geometrical primitives and rules in human adults and preschoolers Studies of sequence learning have outlined one possible mechanism by which complex mental representations are constructed out of simpler primitives: the human ability to extract complex nested structures from sequential inputs. Experiments in infants, preschoolers, and adults without access to education have demonstrated the existence of innate "core knowledge" for space, endowing humans with spontaneous intuitions of geometry. The question therefore arises whether a capacity for the internal representation and manipulation of nested sequences also underlies the acquisition of mathematics. We propose to formalize the human sensitivity to mathematical rules through a "language of thought" that allows the formation of complex representations from a small repertoire of primitives. d' CONCLUSIONS Simple rotations and axial symmetries were all detected and quickly used by human adults and 5-years-old children. Point symmetry was more challenging for French preschoolers or Munduruku adults than for French adults