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

Demonstrative pronouns in spatial deixis, discourse deixis, and anaphora

This paper explores the relationship between the use of demonstrative pronouns in deixis and anaphora in the framework of the functional-cognitive theory of language. Part of the international literature suggests that deixis and anaphora cannot be separated from one another (see, in a formal pragmatic framework, Lyons 1977/1989; Levinson 1994), whereas other authors think that those two pragmatic/text linguistic processes are not connected in this manner (see, e.g., the cognitive-functional approach of Marmaridou 2000). The way Hungarian demonstratives work does not support the latter claim. Along with universal characteristics, it can be observed in Hungarian that, in the non-attributive (independent) use of these pronouns, event deixis (a subtype of spatial deixis) exhibits properties that it shares with discourse deixis, whereas discourse deixis leads on to the anaphoric use of demonstratives. In Hungarian, the switchover between the two types of use is clearly associated with perspective; in particular, with the shift from the referential centre to a neutral vantage point

"Dediction"

Of course it is not a word, this “dediction”; at least, not yet. But why not? As the story goes, James Joyce was once asked whether his habit of inventing words was because there were not enough words in the English language. He answered that there were enough words, just not the right words. To see whether “dediction” might be a “right word”, I begin by considering related terms, and then consider what they do for us—why do they exist and my new term, “dediction”, does not? For example, if we construct for ourselves a simple list of Latinate roots related to writing and seeing, and then add time-related prefixes, we could quickly come up with “post-script”, “describe”, “description,” “prescribe”, and “prescription”, among others. (“Depict” and “depiction” come to mind as well, but their treatment is beyond my scope here.) If we then do the same for speaking, we have no trouble recognising “predict” and “prediction”, but what about “postdict” and “postdiction” or “dedict” and “dediction”

English articles - insights from L2 learners

This thesis compares two approaches to designing teaching materials. One of them is based on the traditional approach to grammar and the other is based on the cognitive approach to grammar. Two groups of high-school students were tested in order to determine their pre-existing knowledge of English articles. After that, the two groups were taught according to two different lesson plans, and they were tested again immediately after the lessons were over. They were tested for the third time two weeks after the lessons. The traditional group showed slight improvement and the cognitive group showed substantial improvement.Ovaj rad uspoređuje dva pristupa oblikovanju nastavnog gradiva. Jedan od njih je tradicionalni pristup gramatici, a drugi se temelji na kognitivnoj gramatici. Dvije skupine srednjoškolaca su bile testirane kako bi se utvrdilo njihovo inicijalno znanje o sustavu engleskih članova. Zatim su dvije skupine bile poučavane dvama različitim lekcijama. Potom su ponovno testirane odmah nakon završetka poučavanja. Treći put su testirani dva tjedna nakon poučavanja. Tradicionalna grupa je ostvarila malen napredak, a kognitivna grupa je ostvarila znatan napredak

Can I reach ‘this’? Or is ‘that’ too far? Exploring the relationship between language and spatial perception

This thesis examines the relationship between space perception and spatial language. The work presented focuses on the use of demonstratives (‘this’ and ‘that’) and prepositions in healthy participants and right-brain stroke patients in English and Italian. In the first series of experiments, the mapping between demonstratives and perceptual space across sagittal and lateral planes in left-handed and right-handed participants is analysed. Using an adapted version of the ‘memory game procedure’, in three experiments we manipulated object locations, hands used to point, the handedness of the participant and tool use, to elicit the production of demonstratives. The results support a strong mapping between demonstratives and reachability of objects; the use of 'this' increases when the hand used to point could reach the object compared to when the object is not reachable but placed in the same location. No effect of handedness was found.] In the second set of experiments, we analysed the use of demonstratives for images of objects or real objects. A large PC screen table was used to show the 2D images of the objects and to place the 3D objects at different sagittal distances. Results showed no difference in the use of demonstrative for type of objects, a main effect of distance was registered congruent with previous literature. In the third, and last, set of experiments the use of Italian demonstratives and prepositions were tested in healthy participants and right-brain stroke patients. A strong effect of distance for the use of demonstratives was found in Italian, congruent with the results found in English. Stroke patients showed no deficit in the use of demonstratives, although impairments in the use of prepositions were found. The work presented in this thesis shows a strong mapping of space perception and demonstratives use in English and Italian. In addition, to our knowledge, this is the first time that the use of demonstratives has been tested in stroke patients. The results presented have implications for spatial language theories, embodied cognition and patients' rehabilitation, widening the literature about space perception and demonstratives use in healthy participants and stroke patients

From Verbs to Tasks: An Integrated Account of Learning Tasks from Situated Interactive Instruction.

Intelligent collaborative agents are becoming common in the human society. From virtual assistants such as Siri and Google Now to assistive robots, they contribute to human activities in a variety of ways. As they become more pervasive, the challenge of customizing them to a variety of environments and tasks becomes critical. It is infeasible for engineers to program them for each individual use. Our research aims at building interactive robots and agents that adapt to new environments autonomously by interacting with human users using natural modalities. This dissertation studies the problem of learning novel tasks from human-agent dialog. We propose a novel approach for interactive task learning, situated interactive instruction (SII), and investigate approaches to three computational challenges that arise in designing SII agents: situated comprehension, mixed-initiative interaction, and interactive task learning. We propose a novel mixed-modality grounded representation for task verbs which encompasses their lexical, semantic, and task-oriented aspects. This representation is useful in situated comprehension and can be learned through human-agent interactions. We introduce the Indexical Model of comprehension that can exploit extra-linguistic contexts for resolving semantic ambiguities in situated comprehension of task commands. The Indexical model is integrated with a mixed-initiative interaction model that facilitates a flexible task-oriented human-agent dialog. This dialog serves as the basis of interactive task learning. We propose an interactive variation of explanation-based learning that can acquire the proposed representation. We demonstrate that our learning paradigm is efficient, can transfer knowledge between structurally similar tasks, integrates agent-driven exploration with instructional learning, and can acquire several tasks. The methods proposed in this thesis are integrated in Rosie - a generally instructable agent developed in the Soar cognitive architecture and embodied on a table-top robot.PhDComputer Science and EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111573/1/shiwali_1.pd

Helen Epigrammatopoios

Ancient commentators identify several passages in the Iliad as “epigrams.” This paper explores the consequences of taking the scholia literally and understanding these passages in terms of inscription. Two tristichs spoken by Helen in the teikhoskopia are singled out for special attention. These lines can be construed not only as epigrams in the general sense, but more specifically as captions appended to an image of the Achaeans encamped on the plain of Troy. Since Helen's lines to a certain extent correspond to the function and style of catalogic poetry, reading them specifically as captions leads to a more nuanced understanding of both Homeric poetry and Homeric self-reference. By contrasting Helen's “epigrams” with those of Hektor, one can also discern a gender-based differentiation of poetic functions.The Classic