science
EEG Study Finds Newborns Show Different Brain Activity for Matching Versus Mismatched Counts of 4 and 12 Stimuli
Researchers recorded brain activity in 21 infants aged 0-3 days as they heard groups of syllables and saw matching or mismatched sets of dots. The findings provide the first neural evidence of an innate number sense present from birth.
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Newborns aged 0-3 days showed distinct patterns of brain activity when presented with matching or mismatched quantities of auditory and visual stimuli, according to an EEG study led by Marco Buiatti at the University of Trento. Twenty-one infants wore EEG caps fitted with sensors that monitored electrical activity across the brain.
During brief periods of alertness, each newborn heard a 90-second recording of a voice repeating syllables in groups of either four or 12.
At the same time, the infants viewed a visual display of either four or 12 dots for up to 50 seconds. Electrical activity decreased in the parietotemporal area when the number of dots matched the number of syllables, consistent with repetition suppression, the brain's reduced response to a repeated stimulus. Activity rose when the quantities did not match.
@NewScientist reported that the parietotemporal area perceives and organizes sensory information. Buiatti said the results represent the first demonstration of a neural mechanism supporting an innate sense of number. Brian Butterworth of University College London, who was not involved in the work, said extracting numerical information from the environment functions like seeing the world in colour for most people.
The research was posted on bioRxiv under DOI 10.64898/2026.05.08.723896. A child's number sense at age one predicts later maths skills, and the same mechanisms may help identify infants at risk of dyscalculia, Buiatti said.
