Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Describing Images Using A Multilayer Framework Based On Qualitative Spatial Models, Tao Wang, Hui Shi Dec 2015

Describing Images Using A Multilayer Framework Based On Qualitative Spatial Models, Tao Wang, Hui Shi

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

To date most research in image processing has been based on quantitative representations of image features using pixel values, however, humans often use abstract and semantic knowledge to describe and analyze images. To enhance cognitive adequacy and tractability, we here present a multilayer framework based on qualitative spatial models. The layout features of segmented images are defined by qualitative spatial models which we introduce, and represented as a set of qualitative spatial constraints. Assigned different semantic and context knowledge, the image segments and the qualitative spatial constraints are interpreted from different perspectives. Finally, the knowledge layer of the framework enables …


On The Polysemy Of The Lithuanian Už. A Cognitive Perspective, Inesa Šeškauskienė, Eglė Žilinskaitė-Šinkūnienė Dec 2015

On The Polysemy Of The Lithuanian Už. A Cognitive Perspective, Inesa Šeškauskienė, Eglė Žilinskaitė-Šinkūnienė

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Adhering to the principle of motivated polysemy, this paper sets out to demonstrate how the principle works in interpreting numerous senses of the Lithuanian preposition ‘behind, beyond’. The present investigation relies on the cognitive linguistic framework employed, first of all, by Lakoff (1987), Langacker (1987), Talmy (2000), Tyler and Evans (2003), and Tyler (2012), who mainly worked on English, and such linguists as Tabakowska (2003, 2010) and Shakhova and Tyler (2010), who attempted to investigate inflecting languages, such as Polish and Russian. Based on such semantic principles as types of Figure and Ground, their relationship (geometric, functional, etc.), …


Language, Culture And Spatial Cognition: Bringing Anthropology To The Table, Norbert Ross, Jeffrey T. Shenton, Werner Hertzog, Mike Kohut Dec 2015

Language, Culture And Spatial Cognition: Bringing Anthropology To The Table, Norbert Ross, Jeffrey T. Shenton, Werner Hertzog, Mike Kohut

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Languages vary in their semantic partitioning of the world. This has led to speculation that language might shape basic cognitive processes. Spatial cognition has been an area of research in which linguistic relativity – the effect of language on thought – has both been proposed and rejected. Prior studies have been inconclusive, lacking experimental rigor or appropriate research design. Lacking detailed ethnographic knowledge as well as failing to pay attention to intralanguage variations, these studies often fall short of defining an appropriate concept of language, culture, and cognition. Our study constitutes the first research exploring (1) individuals speaking different languages …


Antonymy In Space And Other Strictly Ordered Domains, Jessica Rett Dec 2015

Antonymy In Space And Other Strictly Ordered Domains, Jessica Rett

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Natural language references different types of entities. Some of these entities (e.g. degrees, locations, times) are strictly ordered with respect to one another; others (e.g. individuals, possible worlds) are not. The empirical goal of this paper is to show that some linguistically encoded relations across these domains (e.g. under, slower than) display a polar asymmetry, while others do not. The theoretical goal of this paper is to argue that this asymmetry – and its restriction to only certain relations – is due to intrinsic properties of strictly ordered domains, coupled with a bias in how language users perceive these …


The Lay Of The Land: Sensing And Representing Topography, Nora S. Newcombe, Steven M. Weisberg, Kinnari Atit, Matthew E. Jacovina, Carol J. Ormand, Thomas F. Shipley Dec 2015

The Lay Of The Land: Sensing And Representing Topography, Nora S. Newcombe, Steven M. Weisberg, Kinnari Atit, Matthew E. Jacovina, Carol J. Ormand, Thomas F. Shipley

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Navigating, and studying spatial navigation, is difficult enough in two dimensions when maps and terrains are flat. Here we consider the capacity for human spatial navigation on sloped terrains, and how sloping terrain is depicted in 2D map representations, called topographic maps. First, we discuss research on how simple slopes are encoded and used for reorientation, and to learn spatial configurations. Next, we describe how slope is represented in topographic maps, and present an assessment (the Topographic Map Assessment), which can be administered to measure topographic map comprehension. Finally, we describe several approaches our lab has taken with the aim …


A Description Of Space Relations In An Nlp Model: The Abbyy Compreno Approach, Aleksey Leontyev, Maria Petrova Dec 2015

A Description Of Space Relations In An Nlp Model: The Abbyy Compreno Approach, Aleksey Leontyev, Maria Petrova

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

The current paper is devoted to a formal analysis of the space category and, especially, to questions bound with the presentation of space relations in a formal NLP model. The aim is to demonstrate how linguistic and cognitive problems relating to spatial categorization, definition of spatial entities, and the expression of different locative senses in natural languages can be solved in an artificial intelligence system. We offer a description of the locative groups in the ABBYY Compreno formalism – an integral NLP framework applied for machine translation, semantic search, fact extraction, and other tasks based on the semantic analysis of …


Aspects Of Space, Marcus Kracht Dec 2015

Aspects Of Space, Marcus Kracht

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

It is argued that spatial expressions come together with an encoding of the space called "aspect", which changes as we climb up the syntactic tree. The changing nature of aspect is necessary in order to simplify the meanings of elements. What appears to be a rather peculiar property of an element will be perfectly natural once we acknowledge that the elements compute on the space viewed in a particular way. Coordinates are always rooted in the landmark, for example. Thus, for the purpose of the distinction between static and dynamic it is not the "absolute" motion of the figure that …


Intuitive Direction Concepts, Alexander Klippel, Jan Oliver Wallgrün, Jinlong Yang, Kevin Sparks Dec 2015

Intuitive Direction Concepts, Alexander Klippel, Jan Oliver Wallgrün, Jinlong Yang, Kevin Sparks

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Experiments in this article test the hypothesis that formal direction models used in artificial intelligence correspond to intuitive direction concepts of humans. Cognitively adequate formal models of spatial relations are important for information retrieval tasks, cognitive robotics, and multiple spatial reasoning applications. We detail two experiments using two objects (airplanes) systematically located in relation to each other. Participants performed a grouping task to make their intuitive direction concepts explicit. The results reveal an important, so far insufficiently discussed aspect of cognitive direction concepts: Intuitive (natural) direction concepts do not follow a one-size-fits-all strategy. The behavioral data only forms a clear …


The Geometry Of Preposition Meanings, Peter Gärdenfors Dec 2015

The Geometry Of Preposition Meanings, Peter Gärdenfors

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

This article presents a unified approach to the semantics of prepositions based on the theory of conceptual spaces. Following the themes of my recent book The Geometry of Meaning, I focus on the convexity of their meanings and on which semantic domains are expressed by prepositions. As regards convexity, using polar coordinates turns out to provide the most natural representation. In addition to the spatial domain, I argue that for many prepositions, the force domain is central. In contrast to many other analyses, I also defend the position that prepositions have a central meaning and that other meanings can …


Editors’ Introduction, Michael Glanzberg, Jurģis Šķilters Dec 2015

Editors’ Introduction, Michael Glanzberg, Jurģis Šķilters

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Spatial cognition can be considered as a set of foundational and central cognitive abilities that enable a variety of conceptual processes, both non-verbal and verbal. Further, according to recent research, spatial thinking seems to be critical in the development of abstract knowledge and in the processes of abstraction. Although there is a consensus regarding the role and impact of spatial cognition, there are a number of different, divergent, and sometimes even discrepant theoretical and methodological perspectives in the study of spatial cognition.