The Universal Law of Generalization

Title: The Universal Law of Generalization

Research Question: Can a universal cognitive metric be used to explain human cognitive processes and behaviors?

Methodology: The study used a combination of mathematical logic, computer science, information theory, and the theory of randomness to develop a concept called "information distance." This metric was used to measure the distance between two cognitive objects, regardless of their complexity. The researchers then applied this metric to a psychological experiment known as the identification paradigm. In this paradigm, subjects were presented with stimuli related to a set of items and had to learn to associate a specific response with each item. The researchers hypothesized that the probability of confusion between two items would be inversely proportional to the distance between them in the internal psychological space, as defined by the information distance metric.

Results: The study found that with overwhelming probability, the universal law of generalization held with the internal psychological space metric being the information metric. This means that the probability of confusing two items decreases as the distance between them in the cognitive space increases, regardless of the complexity of the items.

Implications: The results of this study suggest that the universal law of generalization provides a more universal and accurate way of understanding human cognitive processes and behaviors. By using a more universal cognitive metric, the study was able to account for a wide range of similarities that can be perceived intuitively, and it showed that the law holds with overwhelming probability for complex cognitive objects. This could have significant implications for fields such as psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence, as it may provide a more general and accurate way of understanding human cognition and behavior.

Link to Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/0101036v1 Authors: arXiv ID: 0101036v1