Stages of conceptual change in humans and robots

There is strong empirical and theoretical evidence in psychology that human development follows a stage-like progression throughout the lifespan. Development is marked by relative stability, punctuated by periods of rapid and profound conceptual change. However, the driving forces behind these bursts of change are poorly understood. In this paper I examine a growing body of evidence that developmental change can emerge through a process of rational, statistical inference as a learner interacts with his or her environment. I briefly introduce the main idea behind statistical (bayesian) inference over structured hypothesis spaces, and then explore the specific domain of number learning with unique implications on the emergence of stages in human development.