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Poster

Probing the Compositionality of Intuitive Functions

Eric Schulz · Josh Tenenbaum · David Duvenaud · Maarten Speekenbrink · Samuel J Gershman

Area 5+6+7+8 #164

Keywords: [ (Other) Cognitive Science ] [ Gaussian Processes ] [ (Cognitive/Neuroscience) Perception ]


Abstract:

How do people learn about complex functional structure? Taking inspiration from other areas of cognitive science, we propose that this is accomplished by harnessing compositionality: complex structure is decomposed into simpler building blocks. We formalize this idea within the framework of Bayesian regression using a grammar over Gaussian process kernels. We show that participants prefer compositional over non-compositional function extrapolations, that samples from the human prior over functions are best described by a compositional model, and that people perceive compositional functions as more predictable than their non-compositional but otherwise similar counterparts. We argue that the compositional nature of intuitive functions is consistent with broad principles of human cognition.

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