Ballard et al., "Deictic Codes ... Embodiment of Cognition"

[peg@cs.rochester.edu]

Title: Deictic Codes for the Embodiment of Cognition
Authors: Dana H. Ballard, Mary M. Hayhoe, and Polly K. Pook

ftp.cs.rochester.edu, directory pub/papers/ai
http://www.cs.rochester.edu/trs/ai-trs.html

filename: 95.NRLTR1.Deictic_codes_for_the_embodiment_of_cognition.ps.gz

To describe phenomena that occur at different time scales,
computational models of the brain necessarily must incorporate
different levels of abstraction. We argue that at time scales of
approximately one-third of a second, orienting movements of the body
play a crucial role in cognition and form a useful computational level,
termed the embodiment level. At this level, the constraints of
the body determine the nature of cognitive operations, since the
natural sequentiality of body movements can be matched to the
natural computational economies of sequential decision systems.
The way this is done is through a system of implicit reference
termed deictic, whereby pointing movements are used to bind objects
in the world to cognitive programs. We show how deictic bindings
enable the solution of natural tasks and argue that one of the central
features of cognition, working memory, can be related to moment-by-moment
dispositions of body features such as eye movements and hand movements.