Show simple item record

dc.contributor.advisorEdward Gibson.en_US
dc.contributor.authorKræmer, John, Ph. D. Massachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2011-04-04T16:16:13Z
dc.date.available2011-04-04T16:16:13Z
dc.date.copyright2010en_US
dc.date.issued2010en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62046
dc.descriptionThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 2010.en_US
dc.descriptionCataloged from PDF version of thesis.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 297-205).en_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis introduces EMRE, an expectation-based model of referring expressions. EMRE is proposed as a model of non-syntactic dependencies - in particular, discourse-level semantic dependencies that bridge sentence gaps. These include but are not limited to anaphora (references to noun phrases in previous sentences) and coherence predicates such as causality, temporal ordering and resemblance -- two domains that have typically been treated as entirely distinct aspects of language. EMRE is a computational-level model, and is agnostic about any particular algorithms, cognitive faculties, or neurological substrates that might be applied to the problem of semantic reference. Instead, it describes reference as a computational problem framed in terms of expectation and inference, and describes a solution to the problem based on rational top-down expectations about the likely targets of referring expressions, and on bottom-up feature-based matching that occurs when a referring expression is encountered. EMRE is used to derive novel empirical predictions about how people will construe particular discourse constructions involving NP anaphora and coherence predicates. These predictions are tested in controlled behavioral experiments, in which participants read and answer questions about short texts. The results of these experiments are shown to be consistent with a model of reference as an expectation-based computational structure with different underlying rules than those governing syntactic processing.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby John Kræmer.en_US
dc.format.extent205 p.en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582en_US
dc.subjectBrain and Cognitive Sciences.en_US
dc.titleAn expectation model of referring expressionsen_US
dc.title.alternativeEMREen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreePh.D.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
dc.identifier.oclc707634076en_US


Files in this item

Thumbnail

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record