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Summary
Computational models for spatial language have assumed
that formalisms of geometrical space and abstract object modelling are
adequate to account for the use and comprehension of spatial terms (Regier,
19967). However, there is growing evidence from psycholinguistic studies
(see Coventry 1998 for a review) that talking about the spatial world
involves extra-geometric variables (e.g. functions of objects, their shape
and size) as well as geometric variables. The aim of this programme of work
was to develop a psychologically plausible connectionist model for spatial
prepositions which deals with both functional and geometric features.
The grant has resulted in a working
neurocomputational model in which a visual input is presented to the model(e.g.,
a movie of a teapot pouring tea into/missing a cup), and the model returns
a spatial description (e.g., teapot/over/cup)to describe the visual scene.
The development of the model has been supported by new experimental results
with human participants across a range of methodologies which show that the
comprehension of spatial prepositions is influenced by a subtle interplay
between "where" objects are in the scene,"what" they
are and how they interact. Furthermore, given a shortened video showing
intiial frames of a movie, the model and participants are able to predict
where the liquid ends up, and this affects judgements of a range of
prepositions for both model and participants. The experimental and
computational work strongly supports the "functional geometric
framework" to spatial language and spatial cognition.
People
Kenny
Coventry (Principal investigator)
Angelo Cangelosi
(Co-investigator)
Dan Joyce (now at UCL, London)
Lynn Richards (now at Peninsula Medical School,
Plymouth & Exeter Universities)
Alison Bacon
Rohana Rajapakse
Related links
Spatial Language
Group
Multi-agent
Modelling of Language Evolution (EPSRC project)
Connectionist
Modelling of Quantifiers (EPSRC project)
Instruction-based
Learning for Mobile Robots (EPSRC project)
Laura
Carlson at Notre Dame University
Simon Garrod at
Glasgow University
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