23,150 research outputs found
Relatively Speaking: An Account of the Relationship between Language and Thought in the Color Domain
This chapter is divided into six sections. The first sets out the background of the debate about the relationship between language and cognition in the color domain. The second explains how recent studies of color recognition employing visual search tasks have clarified this relationship. This section also argues that these studies point to the existence of two separate systems that influence perception and categorization of color; one of which is linguistically based, and one of which is not affected by language. The third section critically evaluates recent claims that there are similarities between color terms in the world's languages that point to the existence of color universals. The fourth section examines children's color term acquisition in an attempt to trace the mechanisms bywhich color categories are acquired. It also discusses whether infants have an innate prepartitioned organization of color categories that is overridden during the learning process. The two final sections outline some outstanding questions, note some methodological constraints on the conclusions that can be drawn from the accumulated evidence, and argue that much more empirical investigation is still needed in this field
Modeling the emergence of universality in color naming patterns
The empirical evidence that human color categorization exhibits some
universal patterns beyond superficial discrepancies across different cultures
is a major breakthrough in cognitive science. As observed in the World Color
Survey (WCS), indeed, any two groups of individuals develop quite different
categorization patterns, but some universal properties can be identified by a
statistical analysis over a large number of populations. Here, we reproduce the
WCS in a numerical model in which different populations develop independently
their own categorization systems by playing elementary language games. We find
that a simple perceptual constraint shared by all humans, namely the human Just
Noticeable Difference (JND), is sufficient to trigger the emergence of
universal patterns that unconstrained cultural interaction fails to produce. We
test the results of our experiment against real data by performing the same
statistical analysis proposed to quantify the universal tendencies shown in the
WCS [Kay P and Regier T. (2003) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 9085-9089], and
obtain an excellent quantitative agreement. This work confirms that synthetic
modeling has nowadays reached the maturity to contribute significantly to the
ongoing debate in cognitive science.Comment: Supplementery Information available here
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/6/2403/suppl/DCSupplementa
A fast no-rejection algorithm for the Category Game
The Category Game is a multi-agent model that accounts for the emergence of
shared categorization patterns in a population of interacting individuals. In
the framework of the model, linguistic categories appear as long lived
consensus states that are constantly reshaped and re-negotiated by the
communicating individuals. It is therefore crucial to investigate the long time
behavior to gain a clear understanding of the dynamics. However, it turns out
that the evolution of the emerging category system is so slow, already for
small populations, that such an analysis has remained so far impossible. Here,
we introduce a fast no-rejection algorithm for the Category Game that
disentangles the physical simulation time from the CPU time, thus opening the
way for thorough analysis of the model. We verify that the new algorithm is
equivalent to the old one in terms of the emerging phenomenology and we
quantify the CPU performances of the two algorithms, pointing out the neat
advantages offered by the no-rejection one. This technical advance has already
opened the way to new investigations of the model, thus helping to shed light
on the fundamental issue of categorization.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
Directional adposition use in English, Swedish and Finnish
Directional adpositions such as to the left of describe where a Figure is in relation to a Ground. English and Swedish directional adpositions refer to the location of a Figure in relation to a Ground, whether both are static or in motion. In contrast, the Finnish directional adpositions edellÀ (in front of) and jÀljessÀ (behind) solely describe the location of a moving Figure in relation to a moving Ground (Nikanne, 2003).
When using directional adpositions, a frame of reference must be assumed for interpreting the meaning of directional adpositions. For example, the meaning of to the left of in English can be based on a relative (speaker or listener based) reference frame or an intrinsic (object based) reference frame (Levinson, 1996). When a Figure and a Ground are both in motion, it is possible for a Figure to be described as being behind or in front of the Ground, even if neither have intrinsic features. As shown by Walker (in preparation), there are good reasons to assume that in the latter case a motion based reference frame is involved. This means that if Finnish speakers would use edellÀ (in front of) and jÀljessÀ (behind) more frequently in situations where both the Figure and Ground are in motion, a difference in reference frame use between Finnish on one hand and English and Swedish on the other could be expected.
We asked native English, Swedish and Finnish speakersâ to select adpositions from a language specific list to describe the location of a Figure relative to a Ground when both were shown to be moving on a computer screen. We were interested in any differences between Finnish, English and Swedish speakers.
All languages showed a predominant use of directional spatial adpositions referring to the lexical concepts TO THE LEFT OF, TO THE RIGHT OF, ABOVE and BELOW. There were no differences between the languages in directional adpositions use or reference frame use, including reference frame use based on motion.
We conclude that despite differences in the grammars of the languages involved, and potential differences in reference frame system use, the three languages investigated encode Figure location in relation to Ground location in a similar way when both are in motion.
Levinson, S. C. (1996). Frames of reference and Molyneuxâs question: Crosslingiuistic evidence. In P. Bloom, M.A. Peterson, L. Nadel & M.F. Garrett (Eds.) Language and Space (pp.109-170). Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Nikanne, U. (2003). How Finnish postpositions see the axis system. In E. van der Zee & J. Slack (Eds.), Representing direction in language and space. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Walker, C. (in preparation). Motion encoding in language, the use of spatial locatives in a motion context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Lincoln, Lincoln. United Kingdo
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Communicative Efficiency or Iconic Learning: Do acquisition and communicative pressures interact to shape colour-naming systems?
Language evolution is driven by pressures for simplicity and informativity; however, the timescale on which these pressures operate is debated. Over several generations, learnersâ biases for simple and informative systems can guide language evolution. Over repeated instances of dyadic communication, the principle of least effort dictates that speakers should bias systems towards simplicity and listeners towards informativity, similarly guiding language evolution. At the same time, it has been argued that learners only provide a bias for simplicity and, thus, language users must provide a bias for informativity. To what extent do languages evolve during acquisition versus use? We address this question by formally defining and investigating the communicative efficiency of acquisition trajectories. We illustrate our approach using colour-naming systems, replicating a communicative efficiency model based on the information bottleneck problem, and an acquisition model based on self-organising maps. We find that to the extent that language is iconic, learning alone is sufficient to shape language evolution. Regarding colour-naming systems specifically, we find that incorporating learning biases into communicative efficiency accounts might explain how speakers and listeners trade off communicative effort
Knowledge Based Systems: A Critical Survey of Major Concepts, Issues, and Techniques
This Working Paper Series entry presents a detailed survey of knowledge based systems. After being in a relatively dormant state for many years, only recently is Artificial Intelligence (AI) - that branch of computer science that attempts to have machines emulate intelligent behavior - accomplishing practical results. Most of these results can be attributed to the design and use of Knowledge-Based Systems, KBSs (or ecpert systems) - problem solving computer programs that can reach a level of performance comparable to that of a human expert in some specialized problem domain. These systems can act as a consultant for various requirements like medical diagnosis, military threat analysis, project risk assessment, etc. These systems possess knowledge to enable them to make intelligent desisions. They are, however, not meant to replace the human specialists in any particular domain. A critical survey of recent work in interactive KBSs is reported. A case study (MYCIN) of a KBS, a list of existing KBSs, and an introduction to the Japanese Fifth Generation Computer Project are provided as appendices. Finally, an extensive set of KBS-related references is provided at the end of the report
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