Cultural similarities and specificities of finger counting and montring

Evidence from Amazon Tsimane' people

Bibliographic Data

ID21283017
AuthorsKrzysztof Cipora (0000-0003-0077-9336, Loughborough University, corresponding author), Venera Gashaj (0000-0002-1979-5910, University of Tübingen), Annabel S Gridley (0000-0001-5204-3537, Loughborough University), Mojtaba Soltanlou (0000-0003-1959-1384, University of Johannesburg), Hans-Christoph Nuerk, Hans‐Christoph Nuerk (0000-0002-0331-7498, University of Tübingen)
Year2023
Volume239
Pages104009
Publication date2023-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueActa Psychologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-6918 • E-ISSN: 1873-6297
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.actpsy.2023.104009
PMID37586227
OpenAlexW4385795260
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited42

Numerical cognition might be embodied, that is, grounded in bodily actions. This claim is supported by the observation that, potentially due to our shared biology, finger counting is prevalent among a variety of cultures. Differences in finger counting are apparent even within Western cultures. Relatively few indigenous cultures have been systematically analyzed in terms of traditional finger counting and montring (i.e., communicating numbers with fingers) routines. Even fewer studies used the same protocols across cultures, allowing for a systematic comparison of indigenous and Western finger counting routines. We analyze the finger counting and montring routines of Tsimane' (N = 121), an indigenous people living in the Bolivian Amazon rainforest, depending on handedness, education level, and exposure to mainstream, industrialized Bolivian culture. Tsimane' routines are compared with those of German and British participants. Tsimane' reveal a greater variation in finger counting and montring routines, which seems to be modified by their education level. We outline a framework on how different factors such as handedness and reading direction might affect cross-cultural and within-cultural variation in finger counting

Affect (linguistics) · Amazon rainforest · Biology · Cognition · Cultural diversity · Embodied cognition · Indigenous · Linguistics · Mainstream · Rainforest · Reading (process) · Sociology · Anthropology · Artificial Intelligence · Child and Animal Learning Development · Communication · Computer Science · Ecology · Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology

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