Reuse and Remixing in Question Asking Across Development
Abstract
Question asking is a key tool for learning about the world, especially in childhood. However, formulating good questions is challenging. In any given situation, many questions are possible but only few are informative. In the present work, we investigate two ways 5- to 10-year-olds and adults simplify the challenge of formulating questions: by reusing previous questions, and by remixing components of previous questions to form new questions. Our experimental results suggest that children and adults reuse and remix questions and adaptively modulate reuse depending on how informative a question will be in a particular situation. This work shows that task-relevant experience asking questions provides fodder for future questions, simplifying the challenge of inquiry and enabling effective learning.
Keywords
Bibtex entry:
@inproceedings{liquin2024remixreuse,
abstract = {Question asking is a key tool for learning about the world, especially in childhood. However, formulating good questions is challenging. In any given situation, many questions are possible but only few are informative. In the present work, we investigate two ways 5- to 10-year-olds and adults simplify the challenge of formulating questions: by reusing previous questions, and by remixing components of previous questions to form new questions. Our experimental results suggest that children and adults reuse and remix questions and adaptively modulate reuse depending on how informative a question will be in a particular situation. This work shows that task-relevant experience asking questions provides fodder for future questions, simplifying the challenge of inquiry and enabling effective learning. },
address = {Austin, TX},
author = {Liquin, E. and Rhodes, M. and Gureckis, T.M.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 46th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society},
livedemo_url = {https://exps.gureckislab.org/emilyliquin/baby-battleship-kids/kid-questionexposure-presentation/#/},
organization = {Cognitive Science Society},
publisher = {Cognitive Science Society},
title = {Reuse and Remixing in Question Asking Across Development},
year = {2024}}QR Code:
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