Editorial: Signatures of a direct sense of number

Perceiving numerosity, the ability to rapidly estimate the number of discrete elements in a set or presented sequentially, is fundamental to our understanding of the surrounding environment, and serves as an important basis for advanced mathematical thinking. A series of studies have shown interest in how we estimate the number of objects in a scene. However, the mechanisms underlying this are debatable. Here we collect works demonstrating a direct and specific role of brains tructures in the processing of numerosity