Centering of Attention, Pronominal Reference, and Discourse Coherence

这项工作涉及三个方面的基本问题， 语篇加工，（1）语篇注意焦点 参与者，（2）代词的使用和理解 指称;（3）语篇的连贯。 研究 重点关注话语中这些方面之间的相互作用 片段 它将改进和扩展当前的计算能力， 语篇连贯和指称理论在这一地区 水平 该方法是跨学科的：它包括 发展体现理论的算法， 心理调查，以确定限制 理论的参数（例如候选者的排序 代词的指称）。 它将根据经验检验 该理论作为人类语言使用的模型，并将比较 处理代词的算法的性能 这个理论的约束与基于其他 理论 这些结果将有助于计算机科学和 认知科学在三个主要领域： 更流畅、更强大的自然语言处理系统; 发展出计算能力更强的心理学 话语处理理论;而且，在更长的时间内， 术语，更复杂的计算机语言的设计（例如， 数据库访问语言、系统接口语言）。

This work addresses fundamental problems in three facets of discourse processing, (1) the focus of attention of discourse participants, (2) the use and understanding of pronominal reference, and (3) the coherence of discourse. The research focuses on the interaction among these facets within a discourse segment. It will refine and expand current computational theories of discourse coherence and reference at this local level. The approach is interdisciplinary: it includes the development of algorithms that embody the theory and psychological investigations to determine constraints on parameters of the theory (e.g. the ordering of candidate referents for pronouns). It will empirically test the claims of the theory as a model of human language use, and will compare the performance of algorithms for handling pronouns employing the constraints of this theory with alternatives based on other theories. The results will contribute to computer science and the cognitive sciences in three major arenas: the construction of more fluent and robust natural-language processing systems; the development of more computationally sufficient psychological theories of discourse processing; and, potentially in the longer term, the design of more sophisticated computer languages (e.g. database-access languages, system-interface languages).