Journal :: Journal of Mathematical Psychology
2007
Ideal learningof natural language: Positive results about learning from positive evidencePDF
Journal of Mathematical Psychology 51(3):135--163, 2007
Gold's [1967. Language identification in the limit. Information and Control, 16, 447474] celebrated work on learning in the limit has been taken, by many cognitive scientists, to have powerful negative implications for the learnability of language from positive data (ie, from ...MORE ⇓
Gold's [1967. Language identification in the limit. Information and Control, 16, 447474] celebrated work on learning in the limit has been taken, by many cognitive scientists, to have powerful negative implications for the learnability of language from positive data (ie, from ...
Journal of Mathematical Psychology 51(6):359-382, 2007
Specifying the factors that contribute to the universality of color categorization across individuals and cultures is a longstanding and still controversial issue in psychology, linguistics, and anthropology. The present article approaches this issue through the simulated ...MORE ⇓
Specifying the factors that contribute to the universality of color categorization across individuals and cultures is a longstanding and still controversial issue in psychology, linguistics, and anthropology. The present article approaches this issue through the simulated evolution of color lexicons. It is shown that the combination of a minimal perceptual psychology of discrimination, simple pragmatic constraints involving communication, and simple learning rules are enough to evolve color naming systems. Implications of this result for psychological theories of color categorization and the evolution of color naming systems in human societies are discussed.