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Brains are bad at big numbers, making it impossible to grasp what a million COVID-19 deaths really means

  • Written by Lindsey Hasak, Doctoral Candidate in Developmental and Psychological Sciences, Stanford University
Brains are bad at big numbers, making it impossible to grasp what a million COVID-19 deaths really meansThe human brain isn't built to understand large numbers.OsakaWayne Studios/Moment via Getty Images

As of April 2022, there have been nearly 1 million confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. For most people, visualizing what a million of anything looks like is an impossible task. The human brain just isn’t built to comprehend such large numbers.

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