The simplicity principle in human concept learning Export

@article{Feldman2003Simplicity, abstract = {How do we learn concepts and categories from examples? Part of the answer might be that we induce the simplest category consistent with a given set of example objects. This seemingly obvious idea, akin to simplicity principles in many fields, plays surprisingly little role in contemporary theories of concept learning, which are mostly based on the storage of exemplars, and avoid summarization or overt abstraction of any kind. This article reviews some evidence that complexity minimization does indeed play a central role in human concept learning. The chief finding is that subjects' ability to learn concepts depends heavily on the concepts' intrinsic complexity; more complex concepts are more difficult to learn. This pervasive effect suggests, contrary to exemplar theories, that concept learning critically involves the extraction of a simplified or abstracted generalization from examples.}, author = {Feldman, Jacob}, citeulike-article-id = {1666420}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.0963-7214.2003.01267.x}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.0963-7214.2003.01267.x}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://dx.doi.org.monstera.cc.columbia.edu:2048/10.1046/j.0963-7214.2003.01267.x}, doi = {10.1046/j.0963-7214.2003.01267.x}, journal = {Current Directions in Psychological Science}, keywords = {\_d\_, category-learning-use, cognitive-biases, informational-constraints}, number = {6}, pages = {227--232}, posted-at = {2007-09-17 16:52:33}, priority = {0}, title = {The simplicity principle in human concept learning}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.0963-7214.2003.01267.x}, volume = {12}, year = {2003} }

TY - JOUR ID - Feldman2003Simplicity L3 - citeulike-article-id:1666420 N2 - How do we learn concepts and categories from examples? Part of the answer might be that we induce the simplest category consistent with a given set of example objects. This seemingly obvious idea, akin to simplicity principles in many fields, plays surprisingly little role in contemporary theories of concept learning, which are mostly based on the storage of exemplars, and avoid summarization or overt abstraction of any kind. This article reviews some evidence that complexity minimization does indeed play a central role in human concept learning. The chief finding is that subjects' ability to learn concepts depends heavily on the concepts' intrinsic complexity; more complex concepts are more difficult to learn. This pervasive effect suggests, contrary to exemplar theories, that concept learning critically involves the extraction of a simplified or abstracted generalization from examples. IS - 6 JF - Current Directions in Psychological Science EP - 232 TI - The simplicity principle in human concept learning VL - 12 SP - 227 KW - _d_ KW - category-learning-use KW - cognitive-biases KW - informational-constraints AU - Feldman, Jacob PY - 2003/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.0963-7214.2003.01267.x ER -