scholarly journals Early emerging probabilistic estimates govern judgments about possibility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Schwarzlose ◽  
Ariel Miller ◽  
Elizabeth Williams ◽  
Sabin Dang ◽  
Lori Markson

The complex probabilistic properties of specific events determine the number or range of possible outcomes they can produce (i.e., outcome entropy). Do humans use estimates of outcome entropy for real-world events to reason about what is possible? We test whether adults (N=106) and children (N=368) use such estimates to constrain their judgments about outcomes for complex, real-world events including paint mixing and skin-color inheritance. Here we show that adults’ and children’s judgments reflect awareness of outcome entropy, such that fewer outcomes are deemed possible for deterministic events than probabilistic ones. Evidence of this sophisticated capacity appears between four and five years of age. Taken together, the results suggest that outcome entropy is a fundamental and early emerging factor in human reasoning about what is possible.

Author(s):  
Vicenç Torra I Reventós

Several real-world applications (e.g., scheduling, configuration, …) can be formulated as Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP). In these cases, a set of variables have to be settled to a value with the requirement that they satisfy a set of constraints. Classical CSPs are defined only by means of crisp (Boolean) constraints. However, as sometimes Boolean constraints are too strict in relation to human reasoning, fuzzy constraints were introduced. When fuzzy constraints are considered, human reasoning usually performs some compensation between alternatives. Thus other operators than t-norms are advisable. Besides of that, not all constraints can be considered with equal importance. In this paper we show that the WOWA operator can consider both aspects: compensation between constraints and constraints of different importance.


1993 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. 23-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMIT P. SHETH ◽  
SUNIT K. GALA ◽  
SHAMKANT B. NAVATHE

Success in database schema integration depends on the ability to capture real world semantics of the schema objects, and to reason about the semantics. Earlier schema integration approaches mainly rely on heuristics and human reasoning. In this paper, we discuss an approach to automate a significant part of the schema integration process. Our approach consists of three phases. An attribute hierarchy is generated in the first phase. This involves identifying relationships (equality, disjointness and inclusion) among attributes. We discuss a strategy based on user-specified semantic clustering. In the second phase, a classification algorithm based on the semantics of class subsumption is applied to the class definitions and the attribute hierarchy to automatically generate a class taxonomy. This class taxonomy represents a partially integrated schema. In the third phase, the user may employ a set of well-defined comparison operators in conjunction with a set of restructuring operators, to further modify the schema. These operators as well as the automatic reasoning during the second phase are based on subsumption. The formal semantics and automatic reasoning utilized in the second phase is based on a terminological logic as adapted in the CANDIDE data model. Classes are completely defined in terms of attributes and constraints. Our observation is that the inability to completely define attributes and thus completely capture their real world semantics imposes a fundamental limitation on the possibility of automatically reasoning about attribute definitions. This necessitates human reasoning during the first phase of the integration approach.


Author(s):  
Yingxu Wang

Causal inference is one of the central capabilities of the natural intelligence that plays a crucial role in thinking, perception, and problem solving. Fuzzy inferences are an extended form of formal inferences that provide a denotational mathematical means for rigorously dealing with degrees of matters, uncertainties, and vague semantics of linguistic variables, as well as for rational reasoning the semantics of fuzzy causalities. This paper presents a set of formal rules for causal analyses and fuzzy inferences such as those of deductive, inductive, abductive, and analogical inferences. Rules and methodologies for each of the fuzzy inferences are formally modeled and illustrated with real-world examples and cases of applications. The formalization of fuzzy inference methodologies enables machines to mimic complex human reasoning mechanisms in cognitive informatics, cognitive computing, soft computing, abstract intelligence, and computational intelligence.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Białek

AbstractIf we want psychological science to have a meaningful real-world impact, it has to be trusted by the public. Scientific progress is noisy; accordingly, replications sometimes fail even for true findings. We need to communicate the acceptability of uncertainty to the public and our peers, to prevent psychology from being perceived as having nothing to say about reality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Robertson

Abstract Osiurak and Reynaud (O&R) claim that research into the origin of cumulative technological culture has been too focused on social cognition and has consequently neglected the importance of uniquely human reasoning capacities. This commentary raises two interrelated theoretical concerns about O&R's notion of technical-reasoning capacities, and suggests how these concerns might be met.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne K. Bothe

This article presents some streamlined and intentionally oversimplified ideas about educating future communication disorders professionals to use some of the most basic principles of evidence-based practice. Working from a popular five-step approach, modifications are suggested that may make the ideas more accessible, and therefore more useful, for university faculty, other supervisors, and future professionals in speech-language pathology, audiology, and related fields.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Tetnowski

Qualitative case study research can be a valuable tool for answering complex, real-world questions. This method is often misunderstood or neglected due to a lack of understanding by researchers and reviewers. This tutorial defines the characteristics of qualitative case study research and its application to a broader understanding of stuttering that cannot be defined through other methodologies. This article will describe ways that data can be collected and analyzed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
LEE SAVIO BEERS
Keyword(s):  

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