Qualitative representations how people reason and learn about the continuous world

An argument that qualitative representations -- symbolic representations that carve continuous phenomena into meaningful units -- are central to human cognition. In this book, Kenneth Forbus proposes that qualitative representations hold the key to one of the deepest mysteries of cognitive science:...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Forbus, Kenneth D.
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Cambridge The MIT Press 2018
Series:MIT Press
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: MIT Press eBook Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 02934nmm a2200313 u 4500
001 EB002071528
003 EBX01000000000000001211618
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 220922 ||| eng
020 |a 0262349809 
020 |a 9780262349802 
050 4 |a BF311 
100 1 |a Forbus, Kenneth D. 
245 0 0 |a Qualitative representations  |h Elektronische Ressource  |b how people reason and learn about the continuous world  |c Kenneth D. Forbus 
260 |a Cambridge  |b The MIT Press  |c 2018 
300 |a xvi, 424 pages 
653 |a Reasoning 
653 |a COGNITIVE SCIENCES/General 
653 |a Cognition 
653 |a COMPUTER SCIENCE/General 
653 |a Space perception 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b MITArchiv  |a MIT Press eBook Archive 
490 0 |a MIT Press 
028 5 0 |a 10.7551/mitpress/11578.001.0001 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11578.001.0001?locatt=mode:legacy  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 153 
520 |a An argument that qualitative representations -- symbolic representations that carve continuous phenomena into meaningful units -- are central to human cognition. In this book, Kenneth Forbus proposes that qualitative representations hold the key to one of the deepest mysteries of cognitive science: how we reason and learn about the continuous phenomena surrounding us. Forbus argues that qualitative representations -- symbolic representations that carve continuous phenomena into meaningful units -- are central to human cognition. Qualitative representations provide a basis for commonsense reasoning, because they enable practical reasoning with very little data; this makes qualitative representations a useful component of natural language semantics. Qualitative representations also provide a foundation for expert reasoning in science and engineering by making explicit the broad categories of things that might happen and enabling causal models that help guide the application of more quantitative knowledge as needed. Qualitative representations are important for creating more human-like artificial intelligence systems with capabilities for spatial reasoning, vision, question answering, and understanding natural language. Forbus discusses, among other topics, basic ideas of knowledge representation and reasoning; qualitative process theory; qualitative simulation and reasoning about change; compositional modeling; qualitative spatial reasoning; and learning and conceptual change. His argument is notable both for presenting an approach to qualitative reasoning in which analogical reasoning and learning play crucial roles and for marshaling a wide variety of evidence, including the performance of AI systems. Cognitive scientists will find Forbus's account of qualitative representations illuminating; AI scientists will value Forbus's new approach to qualitative representations and the overview he offers