Estimating human priors on causal strength

Saiwing Yeung, Thomas L. Griffiths

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Bayesian models of human causal induction rely on assumptions about people’s priors that have not been extensively tested. We empirically estimated human priors on the strength of causal relationships using iterated learning, an experimental method where people make inferences from data generated based on their own responses in previous trials. This method produced a prior on causal strength that was quite different from priors previously proposed in the literature on causal induction. The predictions of Bayesian models using different priors were then compared against human judgments of strength of causal relationships. The empirical priors estimated via iterated learning resulted in the best predictions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011
EditorsLaura Carlson, Christoph Hoelscher, Thomas F. Shipley
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages1709-1714
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780976831877
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
Event33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011 - Boston, United States
Duration: Jul 20 2011Jul 23 2011

Publication series

NameExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011

Conference

Conference33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period7/20/117/23/11

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Keywords

  • Bayesian inference
  • Causal learning
  • Iterated learning
  • Probabilistic judgment

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