TY - JOUR
T1 - Competing hypotheses and abductive inference
AU - Glass, David H.
PY - 2019/5/6
Y1 - 2019/5/6
N2 - This paper explores the nature of competition between hypotheses and the effect of failing to model this relationship correctly when performing abductive inference. In terms of the nature of competition, the importance of the interplay between direct and indirect pathways, where the latter depends on the evidence under consideration, is investigated. Experimental results show that models which treat hypotheses as mutually exclusive or independent perform well in an abduction problem that requires identifying the most probable hypothesis, provided there is at least some positive degree of competition between the hypotheses. However, even in such cases a significant limitation of these models is their inability to identify a second hypothesis that may well also be true.
AB - This paper explores the nature of competition between hypotheses and the effect of failing to model this relationship correctly when performing abductive inference. In terms of the nature of competition, the importance of the interplay between direct and indirect pathways, where the latter depends on the evidence under consideration, is investigated. Experimental results show that models which treat hypotheses as mutually exclusive or independent perform well in an abduction problem that requires identifying the most probable hypothesis, provided there is at least some positive degree of competition between the hypotheses. However, even in such cases a significant limitation of these models is their inability to identify a second hypothesis that may well also be true.
KW - Abduction
KW - Inference to the best explanation
KW - Hypothesis competition
KW - Computer simulation
UR - https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/competing-hypotheses-and-abductive-inference
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065336391&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10472-019-09630-0
DO - 10.1007/s10472-019-09630-0
M3 - Article
SN - 1012-2443
VL - 89
SP - 161
EP - 178
JO - Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
JF - Annals of Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence
ER -