When and why children are more intelligence than adults are: Theory formation, causal models and the evolution of learning Public Lecture by Professor Alison Gopnik (Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley)

Description:	When and why children are more intelligence than adults are: Theory formation, causal models and the evolution of learning Public Lecture by Professor Alison Gopnik (Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley) 18.05.17 at the Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College, Cambridge


Created:	2017-09-26 13:34
Collection:	Public Lectures
Publisher:	University of Cambridge
Copyright:	Susan K. Gowans
Language:	eng (English)
Distribution:	World (downloadable)
Keywords:	psychology and education; psychology; Natural intelligence; Artificial Intelligence; Education;
Explicit content:	No


Abstract:	In the past 15 years, we have discovered that even young children are adept at inferring causal relationship. But are there differences in the ways that younger children, older children and adults learn? And do socioeconomic status and culture make a difference? I will present several studies showing a surprising pattern. Not only can preschoolers learn abstract higher-order principles from data, but younger learners are actually better at inferring unusual or unlikely principles than older learners and adults. This pattern also holds for children in Peru and in Headstart programs in Oakland, California. I relate this pattern to computational ideas about search and sampling, to evolutionary ideas about human life history, and to neuroscience findings about the negative effects of frontal control on wide exploration. My hypothesis is that our distinctively long, protected human childhood allows an early period of broad hypothesis search, exploration and creativity, before the demands of goal-directed action set in.

Abstract:

In the past 15 years, we have discovered that even young children are adept at inferring causal relationship. But are there differences in the ways that younger children, older children and adults learn? And do socioeconomic status and culture make a difference? I will present several studies showing a surprising pattern. Not only can preschoolers learn abstract higher-order principles from data, but younger learners are actually better at inferring unusual or unlikely principles than older learners and adults. This pattern also holds for children in Peru and in Headstart programs in Oakland, California. I relate this pattern to computational ideas about search and sampling, to evolutionary ideas about human life history, and to neuroscience findings about the negative effects of frontal control on wide exploration. My hypothesis is that our distinctively long, protected human childhood allows an early period of broad hypothesis search, exploration and creativity, before the demands of goal-directed action set in.

Streaming Media Service Upload

When and why children are more intelligence than adults are: Theory formation, causal models and the evolution of learning Public Lecture by Professor Alison Gopnik (Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley)