The TWIML AI Podcast (formerly This Week in Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence) How to Know with Celeste Kidd - #330
Dec 23, 2019
In a captivating discussion, Celeste Kidd, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley, explores how we form beliefs and our curiosity about the world. She explains the role of past experiences in shaping future interests and how certainty can lead to rigidity in thought. The conversation also delves into the interplay between attention, decision-making, and how infants develop probabilistic expectations. Kidd's insights reveal the complexities of knowledge acquisition and the implications for both individuals and intelligent systems.
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From Reporting to Science
- Celeste Kidd's background is in investigative reporting, where she used data analysis to uncover corruption.
- She transitioned to science, drawn by its pursuit of truth and more sophisticated analytical methods.
Continuous Belief Formation
- People continuously form and update probabilistic expectations about the world, even for seemingly simple concepts like "table".
- Each new encounter subtly alters our beliefs, highlighting the continuous nature of learning.
Infant Attention and Surprisal
- Infants' attention is guided by probabilistic expectations, demonstrated through experiments involving sequential visual displays.
- They look away from the highly predictable or surprising, focusing on moderately surprising events.