Similarity-based inference as evidential reasoning

✍ Scribed by Eyke Hüllermeier

• Book ID: 104347740
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2001
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 349 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0888-613X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0888-613x(00)00062-1

✦ Synopsis

The guiding principle underlying most approaches to similarity-based reasoning (SBR) is the common idea that ``similar causes bring about similar eects''. We propose a probabilistic framework of SBR which is based on a formal model of this assumption. This model, called a similarity pro®le, provides a probabilistic characterization of the similarity relation between observed cases (instances). A probabilistic approach seems reasonable since it adequately captures the heuristic (and hence uncertain) nature of the above hypothesis. Taking the concept of a similarity pro®le as a point of departure, we develop an inference scheme in which instance-based evidence is represented in the form of belief functions. The combination of evidence derived from individual cases can then be considered as a problem of information fusion. In this connection, we also address the problem of rating individual cases, and of modulating their in¯uence on the prediction which is ®nally derived.