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Grounding spatial language in perception: an empirical and computational investigation.
1Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Green 414, 5848 South University Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. General
|June 21, 2001
Summary
This study shows how visual perception, specifically attention and direction coding, influences our understanding of spatial language. The proposed attentional vector-sum (AVS) model accurately predicts how we judge spatial terms like "above".
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Linguistics
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- Linguistic categorization of space is complex.
- Previous models have not fully explained the perceptual basis of spatial terms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and validate the attentional vector-sum (AVS) model for linguistic spatial categorization.
- To investigate the role of visual perception, attention, and direction coding in spatial language.
Main Methods:
- Development of the attentional vector-sum (AVS) computational model.
- Conducting 7 experiments to test the AVS model's predictions.
- Comparing the AVS model against 3 alternative models using linguistic acceptability judgments.
Main Results:
- The AVS model accurately predicted linguistic acceptability judgments for spatial terms.
- Experimental results supported the AVS model.
- Competing models were disconfirmed by the data.
Conclusions:
- The structure of linguistic spatial categories is partially explained by perceptual processes.
- Attention and vector-sum coding are key mechanisms grounding spatial language.