[MATHLINK] Symposium announcement - NUMBES: Numbers, Motion and Multimodality

[Numbes]

Dear colleagues,
I would like to share with the MATHLINK community information about an upcoming symposium that may be of interest to researchers working on mathematical cognition:

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the NUMBES Symposium: Numbers, Motion and Multimodality, which will take place in Cabo de Palos (Murcia, Spain) on 28–29 May 2026.

The symposium theme, Representing abstract concepts through metaphor, places a particular emphasis on the conceptualization of number, while also inviting an interdisciplinary discussion at the crossroads of linguistics, cognitive science, psychology, gesture studies, and cultural analysis, including contributions on other abstract domains related to metaphor, motion, and multimodality.

Event page: http://eventos.um.es/go/numbes

Overview

Numbers, Motion and Multimodality provides a forum for exploring how abstract concepts —particularly numerical concepts— are developed, represented, and communicated across languages and modalities.

Adopting a multimodal and cross-linguistic perspective, the symposium highlights:

  *   the role of embodied cognition in numerical understanding,

  *   the impact of cultural variation on abstract conceptualization,

  *   the ways in which metaphor, gesture, and spatial reasoning shape how we think and talk about numbers.

Numerical information permeates public and private discourse —from news and science communication to education, policy, and everyday decisions. Yet despite its centrality, research on how numbers are conceptualized remains limited. NUMBES aims to foster reflection, collaboration, and theoretical development to address this gap.

A special focus of the symposium will be the social implications of numerical conceptualization, including its impact on learning, accessibility, and social inclusion.

The event will be held at Sub Up Hostel (Cabo de Palos, Murcia) and will feature invited plenary talks, each approximately one hour long, as well as poster sessions welcoming a wide range of contributions (experimental, corpus-based, theoretical, and applied).

Call for Posters

We invite proposals for posters presenting original research related to the symposium themes.

  *   Call opens: 1 December 2025

  *   Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2026

  *   Language: English

Poster sessions are open to researchers working on:

  *   Multimodal approaches to metaphor and number conceptualisation

  *   Embodiment and numerical cognition

  *   Experimental approaches to abstract concepts

  *   Cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences in number concepts

  *   Numerical cognition in educational settings

  *   Social impact of number conceptualization

  *   Data communication and numerical integration in discourse

  *   Spatial–numerical associations

  *   Translation studies on metaphor, motion, or number

  *   General magnitude systems (e.g., A Theory of Magnitude)

Plenary Speakers

  *   Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano (University of Zaragoza)

  *   Javier Valenzuela (University of Murcia)

  *   Bodo Winter (University of Birmingham)

  *   Christopher Hart (Lancaster University)

  *   Rafael Núñez (University of California San Diego)

  *   Martha Alibali (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Venue

Sub Up Hostel
C/ Amoladeras, 13–15
30370 Cabo de Palos (Murcia, Spain)

We look forward to welcoming you to the Mediterranean coast for two days of stimulating research exchange and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Best regards,

The Organising Team – NUMBES Symposium 2026


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