Probabilistic Simulation Predicts Human Performance on Viscous Fluid-Pouring Problem

The physical behavior of moving fluids is highly complex, yet people regularly interact with them with relative ease. To investigate how humans achieve this remarkable feat, we extended the classical water-pouring problem [1] to examine how humans consider physical properties of fluids (e.g., viscosity) and perceptual variables (e.g., volume) in a reasoning task. We found that humans do not rely on simple qualitative heuristics to reason about fluid dynamics. Computational results from a probabilistic simulation model can account for human sensitivity to hidden attributes and their performance on the water-pouring task. In contrast, non-simulation models based on statistical learning fail to fit human performance. The results in the present paper provide converging evidence supporting mental simulation in physical reasoning.

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