PIRSA:17090051

Theory formation, causal models, and the evolution of learning

Gopnik, A. (2017). Theory formation, causal models, and the evolution of learning. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/17090051

Gopnik, Alison. Theory formation, causal models, and the evolution of learning. Perimeter Institute, Sep. 27, 2017, https://pirsa.org/17090051 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:17090051,
            doi = {10.48660/17090051},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/17090051},
            author = {Gopnik, Alison},
            keywords = {Other},
            language = {en},
            title = {Theory formation, causal models, and the evolution of learning},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2017},
            month = {sep},
            note = {PIRSA:17090051 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Alison Gopnik

University of California, Berkeley

Talk number
PIRSA:17090051
Collection
Talk Type
Subject
Abstract

 I will present several studies showing a surprising pattern. Not only can preschoolers learn abstract higher-order principles from data, but younger learners are actually better at inferring unusual or unlikely principles than older learners and adults. This pattern also holds for children in Peru and in Headstart programs in Oakland, California. I relate this pattern to computational ideas about search and sampling, to evolutionary ideas about human life history, and to neuroscience findings about the negative effects of frontal control on wide exploration. My hypothesis is that our distinctively long, protected human childhood allows an early period of broad hypothesis search, exploration and creativity, before the demands of goal-directed action set in.