Page 270 - DCAP310_INTRODUCTION_TO_ARTIFICIAL_INTELLIGENCE_AND_EXPERT_SYSTEMS

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems

Notes Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
13. If the hypothesis can be cast in a Bayesian framework, try to minimise conditional
independence.

14. When forming a hypothesis, attempt to minimize the length of the description of the
hypothesis.

14.8 Analogical Reasoning and Learning

Analogy plays an important role in learning and instruction. As John Bransford, Jeffrey Franks,
Nancy Vye, and Robert Sherwood noted in 1989, analogies can help students make connections
between different concepts and transfer knowledge from a well-understood domain to one that
is unfamiliar or not directly perceptual.

Example: The circulatory system is often explained as being like a plumbing system,
with the heart as pump.
Analogical reasoning involves several sub-processes: (1) retrieval of one case given another;
(2) mapping between two cases in working memory; (3) evaluating the analogy and its inferences;
and, sometimes, (4) abstracting the common structure. The core process in analogical reasoning
is mapping. According to structure-mapping theory, developed by Dedre Gentner in 1982, an
analogy is a mapping of knowledge from one domain (the base or source) into another (the
target) such that a system of relations that holds among the base objects also holds among the
target objects. In interpreting an analogy, people seek to put the objects of the base in one-to-one
correspondence with the objects of the target so as to obtain the maximal structural match. The
corresponding objects in the base and target need not resemble each other; what is important is
that they hold like roles in the matching relational structures. Thus, analogy provides a way to
focus on relational commonalities independently of the objects in which those relations are
embedded. In explanatory analogy, a well-understood base or source situation is mapped to a
target situation that is less familiar and/or less concrete. Once the two situations are aligned –
that is, once the learner has established correspondences between them – then new inferences
are derived by importing connected information from the base to the target. For example, in the
analogy between blood circulation and plumbing, students might first align the known facts
that the pump causes water to flow through the pipes with the fact that the heart causes blood to
flow through the veins. Given this alignment of structure, the learner can carry over additional
inferences: for example, that plaque in the veins forces the heart to work harder, just as narrow
pipes require a pump to work harder.

14.8.1 Makes a Good Analogy

Analogy examples with corresponding meanings are the best way to show the meaning of the
word “analogy.” The following is a list of some common analogies and an explanation of their
meaning.
The relationship between them began to thaw. This means that the relationship was
changing.
You are as annoying as nails on a chalkboard. You must be pretty annoying for someone
to say that.

I am going to be toast when I get home. This is usually said when someone is in trouble
with their significant other.

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