The Mathematical Mind

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This course will examine how basic math skills are acquired, augmented and abandoned across the human lifespan. Mathematics is arguably the single most transformative tool humans have invented. Its invention is remarkably recent in human evolutionary history, and only in the last few generations has most of the population had access to even basic math education. We will examine how the human mind/brain modifies and binds together nearly every neurocognitive system at our disposal to make learning math not just possible, but mundane. Understanding how the mind/brain does so may serve as a template for understanding how the mind/brain modifies itself to achieve a wide range of complex cognitive capacities.