INTEGRATION OF DISTANCE, SLOPE AND FRICTION IN INTUITIVE PHYSICS

Abstract

The intuitive physics is concerned with the physical knowledge which operates in everyday actions, especially in motor behavior. We evaluate the algebraic structure of motion knowledge which is involved in the task of the inclined plane. We analyze the cognitive integration of three physical factors: distance, slope and friction. Our goal is to determine the function knowledge of common-sense physics, and simultaneously to estimate the parameters for all the unobservable factors. Furthermore, in the integration process, we look for the changing due to the introduction of a third factor. Twenty-four subjects take part to this study. Functional measurement assesses the followed rules as an adding, multiplying, or mixed model (Anderson, 1997). We find the presence of an algebraic rule in motion knowledge. Furthermore, our results suggest that, introducing a third factor, the Integration-Function of many subjects simplifies the task with effortless rules, yielded by some heuristics as well by the averaging rule.