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Srini
Narayanan Simulation Semantics: A Computational Framework Linking Language, Cognition and Action.Abstract
The UCB/ICSI NTL (http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/NTL) project is an
ongoing attempt to model language behavior in a way that is both
neurally plausible and computationally practical. A range of
converging evidence from Cognitive Linguistics, Psychology and
Neuroscience suggests that language understanding involves embodied
enactment which we call "simulation semantics".
Simulation semantics hypothesizes the mind as "simulating" the world
while functioning in it. The "simulation" takes linguistic (and other
sensory) input together with general knowledge and makes inferences to
interpret the input and guide response. Monitoring the state of the
world, drawing inferences, and acting jointly constitute a dynamic
ongoing interactive process. This can be effectively modeled in a
formalism (CPRM) combining structured Probablistic Models with
extended Petri Nets. This talk reports on a computational realization
of the simulation semantics hypothesis and preliminary results on
applying the model to a Question Answering task.
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