Rapid trial-and-error learning with simulation supports flexible tool use and physical reasoning.

ABSTRACT: Many animals, and an increasing number of artificial agents, display sophisticated capabilities to perceive and manipulate objects. But human beings remain distinctive in their capacity for flexible, creative tool use-using objects in new ways to act on the world, achieve a goal, or solve a problem. To study this type of general physical problem solving, we introduce the Virtual Tools game. In this game, people solve a large range of challenging physical puzzles in just a handful of attempts. We propose that the flexibility of human physical problem solving rests on an ability to imagine the effects of hypothesized actions, while the efficiency of human search arises from rich action priors which are updated via observations of the world. We instantiate these components in the "sample, sim

SUBMITTER: Allen KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7703630 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature