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"It’s the Body, Stupid: Concept Learning According to Cognitive Science"
B. Bergen and J. Feldman
ICSI Technical Report TR-06-002
April 2006
PDF
Overview:
The classical question "How do people learn new concepts?" is answered
by Unified Cognitive Science. Converging evidence from several
disciplines suggests that:
1) Our core concepts are based on the neural embodiment of all our
sensory, motor, planning, emotional, social, etc. abilities, most of
which we share with other primates.
2) We can only be aware of or talk about a limited range of parameters
over these abilities and human languages are based on these
parameterizations, plus composition. Composition can give rise to
additional abilities and parameters.
3) The meanings of all new words and concepts are formed by compositions
of previously known concepts. We use a wide range of compositional
operations including conjunction, causal links, abstraction, analogy,
metaphor, etc.
4) Domain relations, particularly conceptual metaphors, are the central
compositional operations that allow us to learn technical and other
abstract concepts.
5) We understand language by mapping it to our accumulated experience
and imagining (simulating) the consequences.
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