The gang of four

A recent news item covers the ability of fish to count to four. Which got me thinking.

I've always been fascinated about the preference to group things in four, whether psychological profiles, dream characters or business models. I am put in mind of research into the infant brain, which demonstrates the in-born ability to see circles, triangles and squares.

If we have the natural propensity to recognise squares and triangles, it seems to me, then we do not need to count until after four. One to four is something we can handle without numbers. We have in-built mechanisms that can group and identify two, three and four and differentiate between them without recourse to numeracy.

Maybe fish are the same. It would be interesting to see what shapes and notions come hard-wired into the piscine brain!