Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains
Abstract Does human behavior exploit deep and accurate knowledge about how the world works, or does it rely on shallow and often inaccurate heuristics? This fundamental question is rooted in a classic dichotomy in psychology: human intuitions about even simple scenarios can be poor, y...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer International Publishing
2021
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131487 |
| _version_ | 1826215005592223744 |
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| author | Smith, Kevin A Battaglia, Peter W Vul, Edward |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Smith, Kevin A Battaglia, Peter W Vul, Edward |
| author_sort | Smith, Kevin A |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Abstract
Does human behavior exploit deep and accurate knowledge about how the world works, or does it rely on shallow and often inaccurate heuristics? This fundamental question is rooted in a classic dichotomy in psychology: human intuitions about even simple scenarios can be poor, yet their behaviors can exceed the capabilities of even the most advanced machines. One domain where such a dichotomy has classically been demonstrated is intuitive physics. Here we demonstrate that this dichotomy is rooted in how physical knowledge is measured: extrapolation of ballistic motion is idiosyncratic and erroneous when people draw the trajectories but consistent with accurate physical inferences under uncertainty when people use the same trajectories to catch a ball or release it to hit a target. Our results suggest that the contrast between rich and calibrated versus poor and inaccurate patterns of physical reasoning exists as a result of using different systems of knowledge across tasks, rather than being driven solely by a universal system of knowledge that is inconsistent across physical principles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:15:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/131487 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:15:00Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Springer International Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1314872023-01-11T20:03:44Z Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains Smith, Kevin A Battaglia, Peter W Vul, Edward Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Abstract Does human behavior exploit deep and accurate knowledge about how the world works, or does it rely on shallow and often inaccurate heuristics? This fundamental question is rooted in a classic dichotomy in psychology: human intuitions about even simple scenarios can be poor, yet their behaviors can exceed the capabilities of even the most advanced machines. One domain where such a dichotomy has classically been demonstrated is intuitive physics. Here we demonstrate that this dichotomy is rooted in how physical knowledge is measured: extrapolation of ballistic motion is idiosyncratic and erroneous when people draw the trajectories but consistent with accurate physical inferences under uncertainty when people use the same trajectories to catch a ball or release it to hit a target. Our results suggest that the contrast between rich and calibrated versus poor and inaccurate patterns of physical reasoning exists as a result of using different systems of knowledge across tasks, rather than being driven solely by a universal system of knowledge that is inconsistent across physical principles. 2021-09-20T17:17:17Z 2021-09-20T17:17:17Z 2018-07-09 2020-09-24T21:19:48Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131487 en https://doi.org/10.1007/s42113-018-0007-3 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. Springer International Publishing application/pdf Springer International Publishing Springer International Publishing |
| spellingShingle | Smith, Kevin A Battaglia, Peter W Vul, Edward Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains |
| title | Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains |
| title_full | Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains |
| title_fullStr | Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains |
| title_full_unstemmed | Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains |
| title_short | Different Physical Intuitions Exist Between Tasks, Not Domains |
| title_sort | different physical intuitions exist between tasks not domains |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/131487 |
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