Véronique Izard

Research Scientist, Co-team leader of Speech and Cognition team

I am interested in mathematical thinking. Do children and infants possess intuitions relevant to mathematics, and what is the content of these intuitions? Are these intuitions present universally in all human beings? Conversely, what role do culture and instruction play in shaping our mathematical concepts? My research involves children and infants in France, and I have also been lucky enough to be able to study adults and children from a group in Amazonia, the Mundurucus.

Relevant links:  Mathematic intuition: baby to adult (french)

                                  Cognitive foundations of mathematics (french)

Selected Publications

– Barot, C., Chevalier, L., Martin, L., & Izard, V. (2024). “Now I Get It!”: Eureka Experiences During the Acquisition of Mathematical Concepts. Open Mind, 8, 17-41. https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00116

– Dillon, M. R., Duyck, M., Dehaene, S., Amalric, M., & Izard, V. 2019. Geometric categories in cognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 45(9), 12367.”

– Izard V., Streri A., Spelke E.S., 2014. Towards Exact Numbers : Understanding Exact Equality, Cognitive Psychology, 72, 27-53.

– Izard V., Pica P., Spelke E.S., Dehaene S., 2011. Flexible Euclidean Intuitions in an Amazonian Indigene Group, PNAS, 108(24), 9782-9787.

– Izard V., Sann C., Spelke E.S., Streri A., 2009. Newborn Infants Represent Abstract Numbers, PNAS, 106(25): 10382:10385.