Look to the babies for (math) wisdom

Babies smarter than average high school student:

In a discovery that could shed light on the development of the human brain, University of Oregon researchers determined that infants as young as six months old can recognize simple arithmetic errors.

The researchers used puppets to portray simple addition problems. For example, in order to illustrate the incorrect equation 1 + 1 = 1, researchers showed infants one puppet, then added a second. A board was then raised to block the infant's view of both puppets, and one was removed. When the board was lowered, only a single puppet remained.

To gauge the infants' ability to detect the error, researchers recorded the number of seconds the babies spent looking at the puppet.

According to the study, babies ranging from six to nine months old looked at incorrect solutions 1.1 seconds longer than correct ones. This extended viewing correlated with EEG measurements showing higher activity in a frontal area of the brain that is known to be involved in error detection in adults. The team's findings are published in the August 7th online edition of The Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences.

Not to be glib, but if babies can do it why can't the average person working a McJob? What happens between infancy and adulthood that turns people into total idiots?

Oh wait...I remember...television, dating, middle school, their parents, and the other wonders of American life. So I guess it does make sense then.

Incidentally, click the link because the picture associated with this article is fantastic. It is RoboBaby.