Abstract:
:Zero stands for emptiness, for nothing, and yet it is considered to be one of the greatest achievements of humankind. This review first recapitulates the discovery of the number zero in human history, then follows its progression in human development, traces its evolution in the animal kingdom, and finally elucidates how the brain transforms 'nothing' into an abstract zero category. It is argued that the emergence of zero passes through four corresponding representations in all of these interrelated realms: first, sensory 'nothing'; then categorical 'something'; then quantitative empty sets; and finally the number zero. The concept of zero shows how the brain, originally evolved to represent stimuli ('something'), detaches from empirical properties to achieve ultimate abstract thinking.
journal_name
Trends Cogn Scijournal_title
Trends in cognitive sciencesauthors
Nieder Adoi
10.1016/j.tics.2016.08.008subject
Has Abstractpub_date
2016-11-01 00:00:00pages
830-842issue
11eissn
1364-6613issn
1879-307Xpii
S1364-6613(16)30125-5journal_volume
20pub_type
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