@proceedings {2535, title = {Faulty Towers: A counterfactual simulation model of physical support}, year = {2017}, month = {07/2017}, abstract = {

In this paper we extend the counterfactual simulation model (CSM)\  {\textendash}\  originally\  developed\  to\  capture\  causal\  judgments about\  dynamic\  events\  (Gerstenberg,\  Goodman,\  Lagnado,\  \& Tenenbaum, 2014) {\textendash} to explain judgments of physical support. The CSM predicts that people judge physical support by men- tally\  simulating\  what\  would\  happen\  if\  the\  object\  of\  interest were removed. Two experiments test the model by asking par- ticipants to evaluate the extent to which one brick in a tower is responsible for the rest of the bricks staying on the table. The results of both experiments show a very close correspon- dence\  between\  counterfactual\  simulations\  and\  responsibility judgments. We compare three versions of the CSM which dif- fer in how they model people{\textquoteright}s uncertainty about what would have happened. Participants{\textquoteright} selections of which bricks would fall are best explained by assuming that counterfactual inter- ventions only affect some aspects while leaving the rest of the scene unchanged.

}, keywords = {causality, counterfactual, intuitive physics, mental simulation, support}, author = {Tobias Gerstenberg and Liang Zhou and Kevin A Smith and Joshua B. Tenenbaum} }