Ebook: Spatial Language: Cognitive and Computational Perspectives

People constantly talk to each other about experience or knowledge resulting from spatial perception; they describe the size, shape, orientation and position of objects using a wide range of spatial expressions. The semantic treatment of such expressions presents particular challenges for natural language processing. The meaning representation used must be capable of distinguishing between fine-grained sense differences and ambiguities grounded in our experience and perceptual structure. While there have been many different approaches to the representation and processing of spatial expressions, most computational characterisations have been restricted to particularly narrow problem domains. The chapters in the present volume reflect a commitment to the development of cognitively informed computational treatments of spatial language and spatial representation. Therefore the chapters present computational work, empirical work, or a combination of both.
The book will appeal to all those interested in spatial language and spatial representation, whether they work in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive psychology or linguistics.

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People constantly talk to each other about experience or knowledge resulting from spatial perception; they describe the size, shape, orientation and position of objects using a wide range of spatial expressions. The semantic treatment of such expressions presents particular challenges for natural language processing. The meaning representation used must be capable of distinguishing between fine-grained sense differences and ambiguities grounded in our experience and perceptual structure. While there have been many different approaches to the representation and processing of spatial expressions, most computational characterisations have been restricted to particularly narrow problem domains. The chapters in the present volume reflect a commitment to the development of cognitively informed computational treatments of spatial language and spatial representation. Therefore the chapters present computational work, empirical work, or a combination of both.
The book will appeal to all those interested in spatial language and spatial representation, whether they work in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive psychology or linguistics.

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People constantly talk to each other about experience or knowledge resulting from spatial perception; they describe the size, shape, orientation and position of objects using a wide range of spatial expressions. The semantic treatment of such expressions presents particular challenges for natural language processing. The meaning representation used must be capable of distinguishing between fine-grained sense differences and ambiguities grounded in our experience and perceptual structure. While there have been many different approaches to the representation and processing of spatial expressions, most computational characterisations have been restricted to particularly narrow problem domains. The chapters in the present volume reflect a commitment to the development of cognitively informed computational treatments of spatial language and spatial representation. Therefore the chapters present computational work, empirical work, or a combination of both.
The book will appeal to all those interested in spatial language and spatial representation, whether they work in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive psychology or linguistics.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Reasoning about Shape using the Tangential Axis Transform or the Shape’s “Grain”....Pages 1-18
A Conceptual Model for Representing Verbal Expressions used in Route Descriptions....Pages 19-42
Resolving Ambiguous Descriptions through Visual Information....Pages 43-67
An Anthropomorphic Agent for the Use of Spatial Language....Pages 69-85
Gesture, Thought, and Spatial Language....Pages 87-101
Organization of Temporal Situations....Pages 103-120
Grounding Meaning in Visual Knowledge....Pages 121-145
Understanding How We Think about Space....Pages 147-164
The Real Story of Over? ....Pages 165-184
Generating Spatial Descriptions from a Cognitive Point of View....Pages 185-207
Multiple Frames of Reference in Interpreting Complex Projective Terms....Pages 209-231
Goal-Directed Effects on Processing a Spatial Environment....Pages 233-253
Memory for Text and Memory for Space....Pages 255-260
Back Matter....Pages 271-283

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People constantly talk to each other about experience or knowledge resulting from spatial perception; they describe the size, shape, orientation and position of objects using a wide range of spatial expressions. The semantic treatment of such expressions presents particular challenges for natural language processing. The meaning representation used must be capable of distinguishing between fine-grained sense differences and ambiguities grounded in our experience and perceptual structure. While there have been many different approaches to the representation and processing of spatial expressions, most computational characterisations have been restricted to particularly narrow problem domains. The chapters in the present volume reflect a commitment to the development of cognitively informed computational treatments of spatial language and spatial representation. Therefore the chapters present computational work, empirical work, or a combination of both.
The book will appeal to all those interested in spatial language and spatial representation, whether they work in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive psychology or linguistics.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Reasoning about Shape using the Tangential Axis Transform or the Shape’s “Grain”....Pages 1-18
A Conceptual Model for Representing Verbal Expressions used in Route Descriptions....Pages 19-42
Resolving Ambiguous Descriptions through Visual Information....Pages 43-67
An Anthropomorphic Agent for the Use of Spatial Language....Pages 69-85
Gesture, Thought, and Spatial Language....Pages 87-101
Organization of Temporal Situations....Pages 103-120
Grounding Meaning in Visual Knowledge....Pages 121-145
Understanding How We Think about Space....Pages 147-164
The Real Story of Over? ....Pages 165-184
Generating Spatial Descriptions from a Cognitive Point of View....Pages 185-207
Multiple Frames of Reference in Interpreting Complex Projective Terms....Pages 209-231
Goal-Directed Effects on Processing a Spatial Environment....Pages 233-253
Memory for Text and Memory for Space....Pages 255-260
Back Matter....Pages 271-283
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