Temporal delays can facilitate causal attribution: Towards a general timeframe bias in causal induction
Thinking and Reasoning 12 (4):353 – 378 (2006)
| Abstract | Two variables are usually recognised as determinants of human causal learning: the contingency between a candidate cause and effect, and the temporal and/or spatial contiguity between them. A common finding is that reductions in temporal contiguity produce concomitant decrements in causal judgement. This finding had previously (Shanks & Dickinson, 1987) been interpreted as evidence that causal induction is based on associative learning processes. Buehner and May (2002, 2003, 2004) have challenged this notion by demonstrating that the impact of temporal delay depends on expectations about the timeframe between cause and effect. A corollary of this knowledge-mediation account is that in certain situations longer delays could facilitate, while shorter delays should impair, causal learning. Here we present two experiments involving a physical apparatus that demonstrate a detrimental effect of contiguity under certain conditions. In contrast to all previous studies, delays universally promoted causal learning. This evidence is clearly at variance with the notion of a bottom-up contiguity bias in causal induction. A new, more general timeframe bias is discussed. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | No categories specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,705 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesCharles Kemp, Noah D. Goodman & Joshua B. Tenenbaum (2010). Learning to Learn Causal Models. Cognitive Science 34 (7):1185-1243.
Riccardo Manzotti (2009). No Time, No Wholes: A Temporal and Causal-Oriented Approach to the Ontology of Wholes. Axiomathes 19 (2).
Douglas Ehring (1986). Causal Processes and Causal Interactions. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986:24 - 32.
J. M. (2002). Supervenience and (Non-Modal) Reductionism in Leibniz's Philosophy of Time. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 33 (4):793-810.
Thomas L. Griffiths, David M. Sobel, Joshua B. Tenenbaum & Alison Gopnik (2011). Bayes and Blickets: Effects of Knowledge on Causal Induction in Children and Adults. Cognitive Science 35 (8):1407-1455.
York Hagmayer, Björn Meder, Momme von Sydow & Michael R. Waldmann (2011). Category Transfer in Sequential Causal Learning: The Unbroken Mechanism Hypothesis. Cognitive Science 35 (5):842-873.
Martin Bunzl (1984). A Causal Model for Causal Priority. Erkenntnis 21 (1):31 - 44.
Marc J. Buehner & Jon May (2002). Knowledge Mediates the Timeframe of Covariation Assessment in Human Causal Induction. Thinking and Reasoning 8 (4):269 – 295.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads2 ( #232,628 of 549,528 )Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
