Infants consider both the sample and the sampling process in inductive generalization.

ABSTRACT: The ability to make inductive inferences from sparse data is a critical aspect of human learning. However, the properties observed in a sample of evidence depend not only on the true extension of those properties but also on the process by which evidence is sampled. Because neither the property extension nor the sampling process is directly observable, the learner's ability to make accurate generalizations depends on what is known or can be inferred about both variables. In particular, different inferences are licensed if samples are drawn randomly from the whole population (weak sampling) than if they are drawn only from the property's extension (strong sampling). Given a few positive examples of a concept, only strong sampling supports flexible inferences about how far to generalize as a

SUBMITTER: Gweon H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2889113 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature