10.1184/R1/6613205.v1 Charles Kemp Charles Kemp Joshua B. Tenenbaum Joshua B. Tenenbaum Sourabh Niyogi Sourabh Niyogi Thomas L. Griffiths Thomas L. Griffiths A probabilistic model of theory formation. Carnegie Mellon University 2010 Algorithms Bayes Theorem Concept Formation Humans Learning Mental Processes Models Statistical 2010-02-01 00:00:00 Journal contribution https://kilthub.cmu.edu/articles/journal_contribution/A_probabilistic_model_of_theory_formation_/6613205 <p>Concept learning is challenging in part because the meanings of many concepts depend on their relationships to other concepts. Learning these concepts in isolation can be difficult, but we present a model that discovers entire systems of related concepts. These systems can be viewed as simple theories that specify the concepts that exist in a domain, and the laws or principles that relate these concepts. We apply our model to several real-world problems, including learning the structure of kinship systems and learning ontologies. We also compare its predictions to data collected in two behavioral experiments. Experiment 1 shows that our model helps to explain how simple theories are acquired and used for inductive inference. Experiment 2 suggests that our model provides a better account of theory discovery than a more traditional alternative that focuses on features rather than relations.</p>