Sam Gershman
Department of Psychology
Center for Brain Science
Harvard University

The compositional nature of human function learning

How do people recognize and learn about complex functional structure? Taking inspiration from other areas of cognitive science, I argue that this is achieved by harnessing compositionality: complex structure is decomposed into simpler building blocks. I formalize this idea within the framework of Bayesian regression using a grammar over Gaussian process kernels, and compare this approach with other structure learning approaches. Participants consistently chose compositional (over non-compositional) extrapolations and interpolations of functions. Experiments designed to elicit priors over functional patterns revealed an inductive bias for compositional structure. Compositional functions were perceived as subjectively more predictable than non-compositional functions, and exhibited other signatures of predictability, such as enhanced memorability and reduced perceived numerosity. Taken together, these results support the view that the human intuitive theory of functions is inherently compositional.

The talk will begin at 12:00pm. A pizza lunch will be served at 11:45am.