Luc Steels:
The Role of Embodiment in the Emergence
of Spatial Language
Abstract
It has become possible recently to conduct experiments in which physically
embodied (robotic) agents invent and negotiate shared communication systems,
including the conceptualisation of the world expressed in their emergent
lexicons and grammars. These experiments make it feasible to test in a very
precise scientific way theories on the origins of language, specifically
to develop arguments for the recruitment theory of language origins versus
the language-as-adaptation hypothesis. This talk gives an example focusing
on the domain of spatial language. I will discuss an experiment (in collaboration
with Martin Loetzsch) showing that if agents recruit egocentric perspective
transformation as part of conceptualisation and if they mark perspective
in their emergent language, then this leads to a more successful communication
system.
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