Showing papers by "Andrew S. Gordon published in 2003"

Method and apparatus for advanced leadership training simulation and gaming applications

Abstract: A method and apparatus advanced leadership training simulation wherein the simulation teaches skills in leadership and related topics through an Internet-based distance-learning architecture. The distance-learning features link trainees at remote locations into a single collaborative experience via computer networks. Instructional storylines are created and programmed into a computer and then delivered as a simulated but realistic story to one or more participants. The participants' reactions are monitored and compared with expected results. The storyline may be altered in response to the participants' responses and synthetic characters may be generated to act as automated participants or coaches. Constructive feedback is provided to the participants during or after the simulation.

Recognizing Expressions of Commonsense Psychology in English Text

Abstract: Many applications of natural language processing technologies involve analyzing texts that concern the psychological states and processes of people, including their beliefs, goals, predictions, explanations, and plans. In this paper, we describe our efforts to create a robust, large-scale lexical-semantic resource for the recognition and classification of expressions of commonsense psychology in English Text. We achieve high levels of precision and recall by hand-authoring sets of local grammars for commonsense psychology concepts, and show that this approach can achieve classification performance greater than that obtained by using machine learning techniques. We demonstrate the utility of this resource for large-scale corpus analysis by identifying references to adversarial and competitive goals in political speeches throughout U.S. history.

Guided Conversations about Leadership: Mentoring with Movies and Interactive Characters

Abstract: Think Like a Commander ‐ Excellence in Leadership (TLAC-XL) is an application designed for learning leadership skills both from the experiences of others and through a structured dialogue about issues raised in a vignette. The participant watches a movie, interacts with a synthetic mentor and interviews characters in the story. The goal is to enable leaders to learn the human dimensions of leadership, addressing a gap in the training tools currently available to the U.S. Army. The TLAC-XL application employs a number of Artificial Intelligence technologies, including the use of a coordination architecture, a machine learning approach to natural language processing, and an algorithm for the automated animation of rendered human faces.

Strategy Representation: An Analysis of Planning Knowledge

Abstract: Contents: Strategies and Cognition. Strategic Analogies. Representational Requirements. Strategy Representations. Conceptual Index to Strategies. Representational Areas.

Experience Management Using Storyline Adaptation Strategies

Abstract: The central problem of creating interactive drama is structuring a media experience for participants such that a good story is presented while enabling a high degree of meaningful interactivity. This paper presents a new approach to interactive drama, where pre-authored storylines are made interactive by adapting them at run-time by applying strategies that react to unexpected user behavior. The approach, called Experience Management, relies heavily on the explication of a broad range of adaptation strategies and a means of selecting which strategy is most appropriate given a particular story context. We describe a formal approach to storyline representation to enable the selection of applicable strategies, and a strategy formalization that allows for storyline modification. Finally, we discuss the application of this approach in the context of a story-based training system for military leadership skills, and the direction for continuing research.

Experiences with the Plasmacup--early stability, wear, remodelling, and outcome.

Abstract: Whilst advances in cementing technique have led to improvement in the survival of cemented femoral stems in total hip arthroplasty (THA), cup failure due to aseptic loosening remains a major clinical problem. These observations have led to a move away from cemented cup designs, particularly in young patients, towards uncemented implants. The Plasmacup is a hemispherical, press-fit, cementless, titanium-shelled, acetabular component with a polyethylene liner. In this article we review our experience of its pattern of early migration, wear, bone remodelling, and mid-term survival. In 18 cups followed for 2 years in subjects with a mean age at operation of 58 years, the mean total vectorial cup migration was 0.75 mm, and cup orientation remained stable (EBRA method). The mean polyethylene linear wear rate over this period was 0.21 mm/year. In 27 cups followed for 6 months using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), average bone loss was -5%, and the pelvic bone-remodelling pattern was consistent with the rim-loading principle of the cup design. In a clinical review of the outcome of 128 cups in 104 patients with a mean age at operation of 51 years and follow-up of 59 months, we found that 82% of patients had a good or very good Merle D'Aubigne score, and cup survival rate was 98% (Kaplan-Meier). Four cups had small radiographic areas of focal osteolysis and three had been revised (two for recurrent dislocation and one for deep sepsis; none were revised for aseptic loosening). The mean linear wear rate in this series was 0.14 mm/year. In conclusion, the Plasmacup shows satisfactory early stability, a wear rate similar to other uncemented cups, and favourable mid-term clinical function and survival rates.

Coverage and Competency in Formal Theories: A Commonsense Theory of Memory

Abstract: The utility of formal theories of commonsense reasoning will depend both on their competency in solving problems and on their conceptual coverage. We argue that the problems of coverage and competency can be decoupled and solved with dierent methods for a given commonsense domain. We describe a methodology for identifying the coverage requirements of theories through the large-scale analysis of planning strategies, with further refinements made by collecting and categorizing instances of natural language expressions pertaining to the domain. We demonstrate the eectiveness of this methodology in identifying the representational coverage requirements of theories of the commonsense psychology of human memory. We then apply traditional methods of formalization to produce a formal first-order theory of commonsense memory with a high degree of competency and coverage. 1 Coverage and Competency While much research in commonsense reasoning has been directed at describing axiomatic content theories in specific areas, of equal concern are the research methods that are used to develop these content theories. Davis (1998) reflects back on the methodological problems that have hindered progress and recommends a research program based on microworlds. He argues that the goal of commonsense reasoning research is the generation of competency theories that can answer commonsense problems that people are able to solve. By emphasizing reasoning competency, Davis makes a strong case for focusing on the function of axiomatic theories rather than their form. However, while the representational form may be indeterminate with respect to its function, representation itself has an even broader role to play across the full spectrum of cognitive behavior, beyond the commonsense reasoning functions of explanation, prediction, planning and design. What is needed of commonsense theories is not only competency, but also enough coverage over the breadth of commonsense concepts to enable use in computational models of memory retrieval, language understanding, perception, similarity, among other cognitive functions. A conservative commonsense reasoning researcher might argue that coverage is an additional constraint on an already difficult task, and is best addressed after suitable competency theories have been put forth. We argue that without addressing the issue of coverage first, competency theories will be intolerant of elaboration and dicult to integrate with each other or within larger cognitive models. This paper presents a new methodology for authoring formal commonsense theories. The basis of our approach is the tenet that the problems of coverage and competency should be decoupled and addressed by entirely dierent methods. Our approach begins by outlining the coverage requirements of commonsense theories through the analysis of a corpus of strategies. These requirements are elaborated to handle distinctions made in natural language, as evidenced through the analysis of large English text corpora. We then address the specification of a formal notation (here, first-order predicate calculus) and of a full axiomatic theory. Section 2 of this paper describes the methods used to solve the coverage problem in the domains of commonsense psychology. Section 3 elaborates on the role of natural language in refining these representations, with an example domain of the commonsense psychology of memory. Section 4 presents a formal, axiomatic theory of the com

Literary Evidence for the Cultural Development of a Theory of Mind

Abstract: The term Theory of Mind is used within the cognitive sciences to refer to the abilities that people have to reason about their own mental states and the mental states of others. An important question is whether these abilities are culturally acquired or innate to our species. This paper outlines the argument that the mental models that serve as the basis for Theory of Mind abilities are the product of cultural development. To support this thesis, we present evidence gathered from the large-scale automated analysis of text corpora. We show that the Freudian conception of a subconscious desire is a relatively modern addition to our culturally shared Theory of Mind, as evidenced by a shift in the way these ideas appeared in 19th and 20th century English language novels. A Cultural Theory of Mind One topic that is strikingly pervasive across the cognitive sciences is that of Theory of Mind, in reference to the abilities that people have in reasoning about their own mental states and those of others. It is the set of Theory of Mind abilities that enable people to reflect introspectively on their own reasoning, to empathize with other people by imagining what it would be like to be in their position, and to generate reasonable expectations and inferences about mental states and processes. Although there are inherent difficulties involved in investigating behavior that is largely unobservable, a relatively sophisticated understanding of Theory of Mind abilities has emerged through the synthesis of widely disparate sources of evidence. This evidence suggests that Theory of Mind abilities progressively develop in children and adults (Wellman & Lagattuata, 2000; Happe et al., 1998), are degraded in people diagnosed with the illness of autism (Baron-Cohen, 2000), have a relationship to localized brain regions (Happe et al., 1999; Frith & Frith, 2000), and are a uniquely human cognitive faculty not available to other primates, e.g. chimpanzees and orangutans (Call & Tomasello, 1999). This last contribution to our understanding of Theory of Mind suggests that these abilities must have arisen in the human lineage only after a split from that of chimpanzees some 6-8 million years ago. Although in may be reasonable to assume that Theory of Mind abilities emerged in humans through a combination of natural evolution and cultural evolution, the relative importance that one ascribes to either of these two forces can radically change one’s conception of the mental lives of humans that are contemporary on a genetic time scale and primitive on a cultural time scale. If genetic evolution is the prime contributor to human Theory of Mind abilities, then we could imagine that human beings tens of thousands of years ago reflected introspectively on their own reasoning, empathized with other humans they had contact with, and were able to generate expectations and inferences about mental states and processes. If instead cultural is seen as the prime contributor, then human beings tens of thousands of years ago would not be capable of any of these behaviors, among many others. In attempting to determine whether the emergence of Theory of Mind abilities is genetic or cultural, researchers are immediately faced with the problem of evidence. Drawing comparisons between Theory of Mind abilities is an extremely difficult task, even between people that participate in controlled psychological experiments, let alone across cultures separated by distance and/or time. Several researchers have thought that the strongest evidence for a cultural Theory of Mind would be the discovery of significantly different Theory of Mind abilities across contemporary cultures. Lillard’s review of research in cultural variation in Theory of Mind (1998) suggests that meaningful variations may exist among the peoples of the world, but argues that there is little evidence available to draw firm conclusions, and that the methodologies employed in the past to study mental representations in other cultures have been problematic. A second type of evidence for a cultural Theory of Mind has looked for significant variation within a culture across time. One of the more provocative of these historical analyses was that of Julian Jaynes in support of his ideas on the emergence of consciousness (1976). In this work, Jaynes examines references to psychological concepts as they appear in a variety of early narratives, including the Iliad and the Odyssey. By comparing how these texts and others use terms such as thumos, phrenes, kradie, etor, noos, and psyche, Jaynes advances his claim that there was a shift in the way the people of ancient Greece thought about the role that mental phenomena played in controlling behavior. Although Jaynes successfully argues that there was a shift in the way that mental concepts were referenced in these early texts, one could argue that these changes can