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Dynamic Field Theory and Embodied Communication

  • Conference paper
Modeling Communication with Robots and Virtual Humans

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 4930))

Abstract

Dynamical Field Theory is a neurally based approach to embodied and situated cognition, in which information is represented in continuous activation fields defined over metric spaces. The temporal evolution of activation patterns under the influence of inputs and neuronal interaction is described by a dynamical system, whose stable states, localized peaks of activation, are the units of representation. This approach has been successfully used to capture many elementary forms of cognition. Communication poses the new challenge of understanding how different modalities can be integrated in a continuously unfolding communicative process. In this chapter we give a brief introduction to Dynamical Field Theory in embodied cognition, and discuss extensions of its ideas to embodied communication. We sketch a highly simplified example of how sequence generation may occur in dynamical fields. We apply these concepts to a specific exemplary problem in embodied communication, turn taking, the temporal structure of which we capture in a simple model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Neuroinformatik, Universitätstr. 150, Bochum, Germany

    Yulia Sandamirskaya & Gregor Schöner

Authors
  1. Yulia Sandamirskaya
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  2. Gregor Schöner
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Ipke Wachsmuth Günther Knoblich

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Sandamirskaya, Y., Schöner, G. (2008). Dynamic Field Theory and Embodied Communication. In: Wachsmuth, I., Knoblich, G. (eds) Modeling Communication with Robots and Virtual Humans. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 4930. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79037-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79037-2_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-79036-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-79037-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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