Abstract
This chapter presents a general conceptual framework for describing and classifying learning processes. The framework is based on the Inferential Theory of Learning that views learning as a search through a knowledge space aimed at deriving knowledge that satisfies a learning goal. Such a process involves performing various forms of inference, and memorizing results for future use. The inference may be of any type—deductive, inductive or analogical. It can be performed explicitly, as in many symbolic systems, or implicitly, as in artificial neural nets. Two fundamental types of learning are distinguished: analytical learning that reformulates a given knowledge to the desirable form (e.g., skill acquisition), and synthetic learning that creates new knowledge (e.g., concept learning). Both types can be characterized in terms of knowledge transmutations that are involved in transforming given knowledge (input plus background knowledge) into the desirable knowledge. Several transmutations are discussed in a novel way, such as deductive and inductive generalization, abductive derivation, deductive and inductive specialization, abstraction and concretion. The presented concepts are used to develop a general classification of learning processes.
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Michalski, R.S. (1993). Learning = Inferencing + Memorizing. In: Meyrowitz, A.L., Chipman, S. (eds) Foundations of Knowledge Acquisition. The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, vol 195. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27366-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-27366-2_1
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