Recursion: Structural Complexity in Language and Cognition

递归：语言和认知的结构复杂性

• 批准号: 0834032
• 负责人: Margaret Speas
• 金额: $ 6.47万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-10-01 至 2010-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0834032&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Recursion; Structural; Complexity; Language; Cognition

Workshop on RecursionIt is well-known that language is an window into the human mind, notjust because our words reveal our thoughts, but because the way we putwords together reflects principles of organization that allowcreativity to flourish. Recent mathematically based research inlinguistic theory has identified computational principles that promiseto provide the software behind our neurological hardware. Thisworkshop will bring together linguists, biologists, psychologists,philosophers and computer scientists who are discovering how theselinguistic principles provide the abstract basis for language learningand learning in general. Central to this enterprise is a simpleconcept, recursion, the idea of building complex structures throughrepeated application of simple rules, which may provide a metaphor forthe organization of all human action.This workshop is timely because research on complex structures inlanguage and cognition is now reaching a point where the various typesof complexity can begin to be defined with sufficient precision toconsolidate results and discover the sources and limits of complexhuman cognition. By identifying the ways in with complex structuresand complex can arise from the application of simple rules, thisresearch lays the foundation for new ways of designing curriculum foroptimal learning, new perspectives on artificial intelligence and newinsight into the evolutionary changes that distinguish animalcognition from human cognitive abilities.

众所周知，语言是人类思维的一扇窗，这不仅是因为我们的文字揭示了我们的思想，还因为我们将文字组合在一起的方式反映了允许创造力蓬勃发展的组织原则。最近语言学理论中基于数学的研究已经确定了计算原理，这些原理承诺为我们的神经硬件提供软件。这次研讨会将汇集语言学家、生物学家、心理学家、哲学家和计算机科学家，他们正在探索语言学原则如何为语言学习和一般学习提供抽象的基础。这个项目的核心是一个简单的概念，递归，通过重复应用简单规则来建立复杂结构的想法，这可能是对所有人类行动的组织的隐喻。这次研讨会是及时的，因为对语言和认知中的复杂结构的研究现在已经到了可以开始足够精确地定义各种类型的复杂性的地步，以巩固结果，发现复杂的人类认知的来源和限制。通过确定复杂结构的方式以及简单规则的应用可能产生的复杂性，这项研究为优化学习的新课程设计方法、人工智能的新视角以及区分动物认知和人类认知能力的进化变化奠定了基础。