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Explanatory Preferences Shape Learning and Inference

Journal

TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES
Volume 20, Issue 10, Pages 748-759

Publisher

ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.08.001

Keywords

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Funding

  1. National Science Foundation (NSF) [DRL-1056712]
  2. James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award in Understanding Human Cognition
  3. Templeton Foundation's Varieties of Understanding project
  4. Direct For Education and Human Resources [1056712] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
  5. Division Of Research On Learning [1056712] Funding Source: National Science Foundation

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Explanations play an important role in learning and inference. People often learn by seeking explanations, and they assess the viability of hypotheses by considering how well they explain the data. An emerging body of work reveals that both children and adults have strong and systematic intuitions about what constitutes a good explanation, and that these explanatory preferences have a systematic impact on explanation-based processes. In particular, people favor explanations that are simple and broad, with the consequence that engaging in explanation can shape learning and inference by leading people to seek patterns and favor hypotheses that support broad and simple explanations. Given the prevalence of explanation in everyday cognition, understanding explanation is therefore crucial to understanding learning and inference.

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