New theory says curricula help with unlearning simple rules, not learning
summerfieldlab · x · 2026-11-05
A new Oxford paper (arXiv:2610.04565, Rubruck, Zhang, Saxe, Summerfield) explains why simple-to-complex curricula aid learning. Both humans and neural networks show simplicity bias — learning underfit simple rules accompanied by representational compression. Curricula help learners overcome this compression, effectively aiding "unlearning" of simple rules rather than learning itself. Pre-exposure to simple tasks increases the benefit, as the theory predicts.
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