54,108 research outputs found
Deductive and Analogical Reasoning on a Semantically Embedded Knowledge Graph
Representing knowledge as high-dimensional vectors in a continuous semantic
vector space can help overcome the brittleness and incompleteness of
traditional knowledge bases. We present a method for performing deductive
reasoning directly in such a vector space, combining analogy, association, and
deduction in a straightforward way at each step in a chain of reasoning,
drawing on knowledge from diverse sources and ontologies.Comment: AGI 201
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Transitivity for height versus speed: To what extent do the under-7s really have a transitive capacity?
This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 Psychology Press.Transitive inference underpins many human reasoning competencies. The dominant task (the âextensive training paradigmâ) employs many items and large amounts of training, instilling an ordered series in the reasoner's mind. But findings from an alternative âthree-term paradigmâ suggest transitivity is not present until 7 + years. Interestingly, a second alternative paradigm (the âspatial taskâ), using simultaneously displayed height relationships to form premise pairs, can uphold the 4-year estimate. However, this paradigm risks cueing children and hence is problematic. We investigated whether a height-task variant might correspond to a more ecologically valid three-term task. A total of 222 4â6-year-olds either completed a modified height task, including an increased familiarisation phase, or a computer-animated task about cartoon characters running a race in pairs. Findings confirmed that both tasks were functionally identical. Crucially, 4-year-olds were at chance on both, whereas 6-year-olds performed competently. These findings contrast with estimates from all three paradigms considered. A theoretical evaluation of our tasks and procedures against previous ones, leads us to two conclusions. First, our estimate slightly amends the 7-year estimate offered by the three-term paradigm, with the difference explained in terms of its greater relevance to child experiences. Second, our estimate can coexist alongside the 4-year estimate from the extensive training paradigm. This is because, applying a recently developed âdual-processâ conception of reasoning, anticipates that extensive training benefits a species-general associative system, while the spatial paradigm and three-term paradigm can potentially index a genuinely deductive system, which has always been the target of transitive research
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Factors and processes in children's transitive deductions
Transitive tasks are important for understanding how children develop socio-cognitively. However, developmental research has been restricted largely to questions surrounding maturation. We asked 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds (Nâ=â117) to solve a composite of five different transitive tasks. Tasks included conditions asking about item-C (associated with the marked relation) in addition to the usual case of asking only about item-A (associated with the unmarked relation). Here, children found resolving item-C much easier than resolving item-A, a finding running counter to long-standing assumptions about transitive reasoning. Considering gender perhaps for the first time, boys exhibited higher transitive scores than girls overall. Finally, analysing in the context of one recent and well-specified theory of spatial transitive reasoning, we generated the prediction that reporting the full series should be easier than deducing any one item from that series. This prediction was not upheld. We discuss amendments necessary to accommodate all our earlier findings
Validating specifications of dynamic systems using automated reasoning techniques
In this paper, we propose a new approach to validating formal specifications of observable behavior of discrete dynamic systems. By observable behavior we mean system behavior as observed by users or other systems in the environment of the system. Validation of a formal specification of an informal domain tries to answer the question whether the specification actually describes the intended domain. This differs from the verification problem, which deals with the correspondence between formal objects, e.g. between a formal specification of a system and an implementation of it. We consider formal specifications of object-oriented dynamic systems that are subject to static and dynamic integrity constraints. To validate that such a specification expresses the intended behavior, we propose to use a tool that can answer reachability queries. In a reachability query we ask whether the system can evolve from one state into another without violating the integrity constraints. If the query is answered positively, the system should exhibit an example path between the states; if the answer is negative, the system should explain why this is so. An example path produced by the tool can be used to produce scenarios for presentations of system behavior, but can also be used as a basis for acceptance testing. In this paper, we discuss the use of planning and theoremproving techniques to answer such queries, and illustrate the use of reachability queries in the context of information system development
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