Article published in:
The Evolution of Grounded CommunicationEdited by Luc Steels
[Evolution of Communication 4:1] 2001
► pp. 3–32
AIBO’s first words
The social learning of language and meaning
Luc Steels | SONY Computer Science Laboratory — Paris
Frédéric Kaplan
| VUB Artificial Intelligence Laboratory — Brussels
This paper explores the hypothesis that language communication in its very first stage is bootstrapped in a social learning process under the strong influence of culture. A concrete framework for social learning has been developed based on the notion of a language game. Autonomous robots have been programmed to behave according to this framework. We show experiments that demonstrate why there has to be a causal role of language on category acquisition; partly by showing that it leads effectively to the bootstrapping of communication and partly by showing that other forms of learning do not generate categories usable in communication or make information assumptions which cannot be satisfied.
Published online: 29 April 2002
https://doi.org/10.1075/eoc.4.1.03ste
https://doi.org/10.1075/eoc.4.1.03ste
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