Towards an Indexical Model of Situated Language Comprehension for Cognitive Agents in Physical Worlds

We propose a computational model of situated language comprehension based on the Indexical Hypothesis that generates meaning representations by translating amodal linguistic symbols to modal representations of beliefs, knowledge, and experience external to the linguistic system. This Indexical Model incorporates multiple information sources, including perceptions, domain knowledge, and short-term and long-term experiences during comprehension. We show that exploiting diverse information sources can alleviate ambiguities that arise from contextual use of underspecific referring expressions and unexpressed argument alternations of verbs. The model is being used to support linguistic interactions in Rosie, an agent implemented in Soar that learns from instruction.Comment: Advances in Cognitive Systems 3 (2014

Sensemaking reconsidered : towards a broader understanding through phenomenology

We develop a typology of sensemaking in organizations that reconsiders existing sensemaking research by providing a more coherent and integrative conceptualization of what defines sensemaking and how it is connected with organizing. Drawing on existential phenomenology, we make the following core claims: (1) sensemaking is not a singular phenomenon but comprises four major types: immanent, involved-deliberate, detached-deliberate, and representational sensemaking; (2) all types of sensemaking originate and take place within specific practice worlds; (3) the core constituents of sensemaking within a practice world (sense–action nexus, temporality, embodiment, and language) are played out differently in each type of sensemaking. Furthermore, we elaborate the links between sensemaking and organizing, focusing especially on the connections between types and levels of sensemaking, and the consequences of sensemaking outcomes for organizing. Finally, we discuss how the typology contributes to the existing sensemaking perspective, outline methodological implications, and suggest ways of advancing sensemaking research

Towards a multimedia knowledge-based agent with social competence and human interaction capabilities

We present work in progress on an intelligent embodied conversation agent in the basic care and healthcare domain. In contrast to most of the existing agents, the presented agent is aimed to have linguistic cultural, social and emotional competence needed to interact with elderly and migrants. It is composed of an ontology-based and reasoning-driven dialogue manager, multimodal communication analysis and generation modules and a search engine for the retrieval of multimedia background content from the web needed for conducting a conversation on a given topic.The presented work is funded by the European Commission under the contract number H2020-645012-RIA

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 edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (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 edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (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 speakers’ 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 Molyneux’s 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

Research and pupil voice

"There are many reasons for involving children and young people in the process of research (Kirby, Lanyon, Kronin, & Sinclairl,2003). We may for example believe that the research will be better or more meaningful,and have greater validity in revealing children’s views and experiences. Additionally we may believe in the importance of democratic participation, and that children should contribute to the decision-making process in the development of aspects of their lives that particularly concern them. We may also as educators recognize that contributing to the research process provides an important vehicle for personal development. There is therefore a growing body of interest in developing research that might be described as participatory,whether this involves ensuring that the voices of all children are included, extends to the active engagement of children in the research process, or (as in emancipatory research traditions) involves children explicitly leading the research process.

Praxis Of Cognitive Onto-Hermeneutical Logic On Learning Machines [Q325.5. S624 2008 f rb].

Tujuan utama disertasi ini adalah untuk menyediakan satu sistem yang realitinya mudah dan ringkas yang dikenali sebagai Pempraktisan Logik Onto-Hermeneutik Kognitif Ke atas Mesin Pembelajaran di mana kesedaran manusia digabungkan dengan kajian Onto-Hermeneutik untuk merekabentuk Agen Bertekad (atau mesin pembelajaran) ke arah kecerdasan buatan(AI). The primary purpose of this dissertation is to provide a relatively simplistic system called Praxis Of Cognitive Onto-Hermeneutical Logic On Learning Machines in which the human consciousness, be incorporated into the study of onto-hermeneutic, to design Intentional Agent (or Learning Machine) at the leading edge of the Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Understanding Virtual Embodiment: A Phenomenological Lens

The paper develops a phenomenological perspective on virtual interactions, which focuses on the centrality of the human body for developing meaningful engagements and relationships in virtual settings. From such a stance, the paper problematizes the extant perspectives that are being premised either on the physicality of the human body and thereby face-to-face interactions, or on the negligence of the body and its reduction to digital text in virtual interactions. In contrast, by drawing on the work of Merleau-Ponty, this paper sets a middle ground, which emphasizes the relationship between the phenomenal (lived) body, and the objective (image) body, which also constitutes our engagements with others. The findings of the paper, based on an analysis of an in-depth, longitudinal, exclusively-mediated software development relationship, identify the importance of inter-orienting and inter-presencing practices. These practices show that virtual interactions are qualitatively distinct mode of engagement, which is more-than-linguistic and more-than-task-oriented. This perspective of virtual embodiment is valuable for addressing the research contradictions in the area of virtual interactions, and offering important insights to the recent IS discourse on performativity and ontological inseparability

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: NL

Proceedings ICPW'07: 2nd International Conference on the Pragmatic Web, 22-23 Oct. 2007, Tilburg: N

Neurocognitive Informatics Manifesto.

Informatics studies all aspects of the structure of natural and artificial information systems. Theoretical and abstract approaches to information have made great advances, but human information processing is still unmatched in many areas, including information management, representation and understanding. Neurocognitive informatics is a new, emerging field that should help to improve the matching of artificial and natural systems, and inspire better computational algorithms to solve problems that are still beyond the reach of machines. In this position paper examples of neurocognitive inspirations and promising directions in this area are given