Quantum collapse in semantic space : interpreting natural language argumentation

Bruza, Peter D. and Woods, John (2008) Quantum collapse in semantic space : interpreting natural language argumentation. In: Second Quantum Interaction Symposium, 26-28 March 2008, Oxford University, Oxford.

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Official URL : http://ir.dcs.gla.ac.uk/qi2008/

Abstract

The interpretation of natural language utterances in argumentation is largely a tacit procedure, that is to say, a procedure transacted for the most part sublinguistically, inattentively, automatically and involuntarily. In the particular case of the interpretation of argumentative texts, the tacitness thesis provides that interpreters are able to discern intended messages without forming -- and usually without being able to -- propositional representations that wholly contain their contents. How is this done? In this paper, we propose the following theses: (1) Interpretation can be represented as collapse of meaning in a semantic space model. (2) Semantic collapse, in turn, can be likened to the quantum collapse of superpositional states of word meaning. (3) Non-trivial structural similarities with quantum collapse are discernible in matrix models of memory. The advantage of (3) is that it provides independent reason to suppose that quantum structures admit of psychological construal. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research.

ID Code:	18554
Item Type:	Conference Paper
Keywords :	quantum theory, semantic space, sub-symbolic reasoning, argumentation theory
ISBN:	9781904987772
Subjects:	Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES (220000) > PHILOSOPHY (220300) > Philosophy of Cognition (220312) Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES (170000) > OTHER PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES (179900) > Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified (179999) Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCES (080000) > INFORMATION SYSTEMS (080600) > Information Systems Theory (080611)
Divisions:	QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Science and Technology
Copyright Owner :	Copyright 2008 [please consult the authors]
Deposited On:	10 Mar 2009 09:23
Last Modified:	20 May 2009 01:47

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