Causal Learning: Psychology, Philosophy, and ComputationUnderstanding causal structure is a central task of human cognition. Causal learning underpins the development of our concepts and categories, our intuitive theories, and our capacities for planning, imagination and inference. During the last few years, there has been an interdisciplinary revolution in our understanding of learning and reasoning: Researchers in philosophy, psychology, and computation have discovered new mechanisms for learning the causal structure of the world. This new work provides a rigorous, formal basis for theory theories of concepts and cognitive development, and moreover, the causal learning mechanisms it has uncovered go dramatically beyond the traditional mechanisms of both nativist theories, such as modularity theories, and empiricist ones, such as association or connectionism. |
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Page 8
Little babies who learn a new skill—like reaching for objects—understand other people's actions on objects better than babies who don't have the skill. Jessica Sommerville will show you next week how giving babies “sticky mittens” and ...
Little babies who learn a new skill—like reaching for objects—understand other people's actions on objects better than babies who don't have the skill. Jessica Sommerville will show you next week how giving babies “sticky mittens” and ...
Page 9
Specifically, infants seem to interpret human, but not mechanical, action as goal directed and self-initiated (Meltzoff, 1995; A. L. Woodward, 1998; A. L. Woodward, Phillips, & Spelke, 1993). Thus, for instance, babies expect physical ...
Specifically, infants seem to interpret human, but not mechanical, action as goal directed and self-initiated (Meltzoff, 1995; A. L. Woodward, 1998; A. L. Woodward, Phillips, & Spelke, 1993). Thus, for instance, babies expect physical ...
Page 10
He described this as the law of effect: Actions with positive consequences are likely to be repeated and actions with negative consequences avoided (1911/2000). A large body of research on learning subsequently elaborated the ways in ...
He described this as the law of effect: Actions with positive consequences are likely to be repeated and actions with negative consequences avoided (1911/2000). A large body of research on learning subsequently elaborated the ways in ...
Page 21
... instead, the characterization is given entirely in nonanthropocentric causal language. A naturally occurring process (a “natural experiment”) that does not involve human action at any point may thus qualify as an intervention if ...
... instead, the characterization is given entirely in nonanthropocentric causal language. A naturally occurring process (a “natural experiment”) that does not involve human action at any point may thus qualify as an intervention if ...
Page 22
Nonetheless, I think that it is plausible (see the Interventions and Voluntary Actions section) that, as a matter of contingent, empirical fact, many voluntary human actions as well as many behaviors carried out by animals do satisfy ...
Nonetheless, I think that it is plausible (see the Interventions and Voluntary Actions section) that, as a matter of contingent, empirical fact, many voluntary human actions as well as many behaviors carried out by animals do satisfy ...
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Causal Learning: Psychology, Philosophy, and Computation Alison Gopnik,Laura Schulz Limited preview - 2007 |
Causal Learning: Psychology, Philosophy, and Computation Alison Gopnik,Laura Schulz Limited preview - 2007 |
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Causal Learning: Psychology, Philosophy, and Computation Oxford Series in Cognitive Development |
| Editors | Alison Gopnik, Laura Schulz |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 2007 |
| ISBN | 019803928X, 9780198039280 |
| Length | 384 pages |
| Subjects | › Psychology / Cognitive Psychology & Cognition |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |