Forms of Understanding of XAI-Explanations

Explainability has become an important topic in computer science and artificial intelligence, leading to a subfield called Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI). The goal of providing or seeking explanations is to achieve (better) 'understanding' on the part of the explainee. However, what it means to 'understand' is still not clearly defined, and the concept itself is rarely the subject of scientific investigation. This conceptual article aims to present a model of forms of understanding in the context of XAI and beyond. From an interdisciplinary perspective bringing together computer science, linguistics, sociology, and psychology, a definition of understanding and its forms, assessment, and dynamics during the process of giving everyday explanations are explored. Two types of understanding are considered as possible outcomes of explanations, namely enabledness, 'knowing how' to do or decide something, and comprehension, 'knowing that' -- both in different degrees (from shallow to deep). Explanations regularly start with shallow understanding in a specific domain and can lead to deep comprehension and enabledness of the explanandum, which we see as a prerequisite for human users to gain agency. In this process, the increase of comprehension and enabledness are highly interdependent. Against the background of this systematization, special challenges of understanding in XAI are discussed

Explanation as a Social Practice: Toward a Conceptual Framework for the Social Design of AI Systems

none20siThe recent surge of interest in explainability in artificial intelligence (XAI) is propelled by not only technological advancements in machine learning, but also by regulatory initiatives to foster transparency in algorithmic decision making. In this article, we revise the current concept of explainability and identify three limitations: passive explainee, narrow view on the social process, and undifferentiated assessment of understanding. In order to overcome these limitations, we present explanation as a social practice in which explainer and explainee co-construct understanding on the microlevel. We view the co-construction on a microlevel as embedded into a macrolevel, yielding expectations concerning, e.g., social roles or partner models: Typically, the role of the explainer is to provide an explanation and to adapt it to the current level of understanding of the explainee; the explainee, in turn, is expected to provide cues that guide the explainer. Building on explanations being a social practice, we present a conceptual framework that aims to guide future research in XAI. The framework relies on the key concepts of monitoring and scaffolding to capture the development of interaction. We relate our conceptual framework and our new perspective on explaining to transparency and autonomy as objectives considered for XAInoneKatharina J. Rohlfing; Philipp Cimiano; Ingrid Scharlau; Tobias Matzner; Heike M. Buhl; Hendrik Buschmeier; Elena Esposito; Angela Grimminger; Barbara Hammer; Reinhold Häb-Umbach; Ilona Horwath; Eyke Hüllermeier; Friederike Kern; Stefan Kopp; Kirsten Thommes; Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo; Carsten Schulte; Henning Wachsmuth; Petra Wagner; Britta WredeKatharina J. Rohlfing; Philipp Cimiano; Ingrid Scharlau; Tobias Matzner; Heike M. Buhl; Hendrik Buschmeier; Elena Esposito; Angela Grimminger; Barbara Hammer; Reinhold Häb-Umbach; Ilona Horwath; Eyke Hüllermeier; Friederike Kern; Stefan Kopp; Kirsten Thommes; Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo; Carsten Schulte; Henning Wachsmuth; Petra Wagner; Britta Wred

Abstracts from the 8th International Conference on cGMP Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

This work was supported by a restricted research grant of Bayer AG

SAYL

SAYL - Stimulating Adventures for Young Learners (ERASMUS+) The focus of this project is on promoting book reading experiences by young children aged 3 to 5 years - one of the most effective ways to develop language skills essential for academic success. For maximum inclusion and diversity, books will be available in multiple languages, thus enabling a choice of language and even shifting between languages. Here, some of the newly created children's books on computational thinking are shared

The timing of pointing-speech combinations in typically developing and language-delayed toddlers

Research on the development of the gesture-speech integrated system suggests that thetemporal alignment becomes closer with progression in linguistic skills. In this study, themultimodal communicative combinations of pointing gestures with speech (vocalizations andfirst words) in two groups of 18-month-old children with different developmental trajectoriesin their linguistic development were analyzed: a group of typically developed children and agroup of children delayed in language acquisitionas attested retrospectively by astandardized test. Using the reliable paradigm of the decorated room to elicit pointing behaviorin children, the analyses focussed on the timing between the two modalities and the temporaldistances between gesture and speech onsets. Similar patterns of gesture-speech integrationwere found for both groups.Angela Grimminge

Variations in explainers’ gesture deixis in explanations related to the monitoring of explainees’ understanding

In this study on the use of gesture deixis during explanations, a sample of 24 videorecorded dyadic interactions of a board game explanation was analyzed. The relation between the use of gesture deixis by different explainers and their interpretation of explainees’ understanding was investigated. In addition, we describe explainers’ intra-individual variations related to their interactions with three different explainees consecutively. While we did not find a relation between interpretations of explainees’ complete understanding and a decrease in explainers’ use of gesture deixis, we demonstrated that the overall use of gesture deixis is related to the process of interactional monitoring and the attendance of a different explainee

Does gestural hierarchy align in time with prosodic hierarchy? Another modality to consider: Information structure

Türk O. Does gestural hierarchy align in time with prosodic hierarchy? Another modality to consider: Information structure . In: Grimminger A, ed. Proceedings of the 6th Gesture and Speech in Interaction – GESPIN 6 . Paderborn: Universitaetsbibliothek Paderborn; 2019: 87-92

Enstehung multimodaler Sprachlehrstrategien in spezifischen Interaktionen

Grimminger A, Rohlfing K. Enstehung multimodaler Sprachlehrstrategien in spezifischen Interaktionen. In: Lernen durch Vorlesen. Interdisziplinäre Beiträge aus Forschung und Praxis. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto Verlag; 2015: 94-109

Children's lexical skills and task demands affect gestural behavior in mothers of late-talking children and children with typical language development

Grimminger A, Rohlfing K, Stenneken P. Children's lexical skills and task demands affect gestural behavior in mothers of late-talking children and children with typical language development. Gesture. 2010;10(2):251-278

Which Semantic Synchrony?

Rohlfing K, Grimminger A, Nachtigäller K. Which Semantic Synchrony? Presented at the TiGeR Tilburg Gesture Research Meeting, Tilburg, Netherlands