Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37041982›Full record

ArticleMinds and machines2023

How a Minimal Learning Agent can Infer the Existence of Unobserved Variables in a Complex Environment.

Benjamin Eva, Katja Ried, Thomas Müller, Hans J Briegel

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Minds and machines, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Benjamin EvaDepartment of Philosophy, Duke University, 1364 Campus Dr., Durham, NC 27705 USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3764-3398
Katja RiedInstitute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 21A, Innsbruck, 6020 Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-4696-0141
Thomas MüllerDepartment of Philosophy, University of Konstanz, Fach 17, 78457 Konstanz, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1225-1483
Hans J BriegelInstitute for Theoretical Physics, University of Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 21A, Innsbruck, 6020 Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-9065-1565

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

According to a mainstream position in contemporary cognitive science and philosophy, the use of abstract compositional concepts is amongst the most characteristic indicators of meaningful deliberative thought in an organism or agent. In this article, we show how the ability to develop and utilise abstract conceptual structures can be achieved by a particular kind of learning agent. More specifically, we provide and motivate a concrete operational definition of what it means for these agents to be in possession of abstract concepts, before presenting an explicit example of a minimal architecture that supports this capability. We then proceed to demonstrate how the existence of abstract conceptual structures can be operationally useful in the process of employing previously acquired knowledge in the face of new experiences, thereby vindicating the natural conjecture that the cognitive functions of abstraction and generalisation are closely related.

Indexed as

Concept formationExplainable artificial intelligence (XAI)Projective simulationReinforcement learningTheory formationTransparent artificial intelligence

Identifiers

PMID37041982
PMCPMC10082113

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.