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Identifying Objects on the Basis of Spatial Contrast: An Empirical Study

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Spatial Cognition IV. Reasoning, Action, Interaction (Spatial Cognition 2004)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 3343))

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Abstract

In contrast to most research on spatial reference, the scenario in our human-robot experiments focuses on identifying rather than localising objects using spatial language. The relevant question in such a task is “Which” rather than “Where”. In order to gain insights about the kind of language to expect in such a scenario, we collected participants’ linguistic choices in a web-based empirical study. Spatial scenarios were presented that varied with respect to number, shape, and location of elements, and with respect to possible perspectives. The linguistic analysis reveals that speakers adhere to underlying principles similar to those known for non-spatial object reference. If objects only differ in spatial position, a reference system and spatial axis is chosen that is suitable for contrasting the target object from competing ones. The exact spatial location is usually not specified if there are no competing objects closeby.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Linguistics and Literary Sciences, University of Bremen, Bibliothekstr. 1, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Thora Tenbrink

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  1. Thora Tenbrink
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition, Universität Bremen, Bibliothekstr. 1, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Christian Freksa

  2. Center for Cognitive Science, Friedrichstraße 50, 79098, Freiburg, Germany

    Markus Knauff

  3. Universität Bremen and DFKI-Lab Bremen, P.O. Box, Germany

    Bernd Krieg-Brückner

  4. Institut für Informatik, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Bernhard Nebel

  5. SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition, Universität Bremen, Germany

    Thomas Barkowsky

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© 2005 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Tenbrink, T. (2005). Identifying Objects on the Basis of Spatial Contrast: An Empirical Study. In: Freksa, C., Knauff, M., Krieg-Brückner, B., Nebel, B., Barkowsky, T. (eds) Spatial Cognition IV. Reasoning, Action, Interaction. Spatial Cognition 2004. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 3343. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-32255-9_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-32255-9_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-25048-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-32255-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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