[CTN] CTN Seminar - March 10, 3:30 p.m. - Christopher Sims

[Sue Ann Campbell]

Hello Everyone,

Our next CTN Seminar of the term is in one week

Tuesday, March 10 at 3:30 p.m.  in DC 1304

Title: Why Simplicity Enables Intelligence: Efficient Coding in Human Learning and Generalization

Speaker: Christopher Sims, Rensselaer Polytechic Institute  https://www.adacog.com/

Abstract: Human intelligence depends critically on the ability to learn representations that generalize beyond past experience. While reinforcement learning theory formalizes how agents should act to maximize reward, it provides little guidance on how internal representations should be structured to support generalization. In this talk, I propose that efficient coding provides a unifying representational principle. When agents are constrained to use the simplest representations compatible with reward maximization, they are forced to discover abstract structure in the environment and to selectively encode features that matter for behavior. I present a computational framework in which efficient coding augments the classical reinforcement learning objective, leading to compact internal state spaces that support robust generalization. Behavioral experiments show that this framework accounts for human generalization patterns that standard models struggle to explain. I further demonstrate that the same principle explains long standing regularities in perceptual generalization, including the universal law of generalization. These results suggest that abstraction, generalization, and perceptual similarity arise from a common normative pressure to efficiently encode information under resource constraints.


Hope to see you there,

Sue Ann


_______________________________________________


Dr. Sue Ann Campbell (she/her)

Professor and University Research Chair

Department of Applied Mathematics & Centre for Theoretical Neuroscience<https://uwaterloo.ca/centre-for-theoretical-neuroscience/>

Associate Dean, Research, Faculty of Mathematics

University of Waterloo

Waterloo ON N2L 3G1

https://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~sacampbe/

Past-President, Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society<https://caims.ca/>


I acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional territory of the Chonnonton, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo main campus is located on the Haldimand tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.

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