ELSC Seminar Series

No two events are alike. But still, we learn, which means that we implicitly decide what events are similar enough that experience with one can inform us about what to do in another. We have suggested that this relies on parsing of incoming information into “clusters” according to inferred hidden (latent) causes. In this talk, I will present this theory and illustrate its breadth in explaining human learning. I will then discuss the relevance of latent cause inference to understanding mental health conditions and their treatment.