What's the point?

Roger C. Schank; Gregg C. Collins; Ernest Davis; Peter N. Johnson; Steve Lytinen; Brian J. Reiser

doi:10.1016/S0364-0213(82)80002-5

What's the point?

Roger C. Schank, Gregg C. Collins, Ernest Davis, Peter N. Johnson, Steve Lytinen, Brian J. Reiser

School of Education and Social Policy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

54 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a theory of conversation comprehension in which a line of the conversation is "understood" by relating it to one of seven possible "points". We define these points, and present examples where it seems plausible that the failure to "get the point" would indeed constitute a failure to understand the conversation. We argue that the recognition of such points must proceed in both a top down and bottom up fashion, and thus is likely to be quite complicated. Finally, we see the processing of information in the conversation to be dependent upon which point classification the user decides upon.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	255-275
Number of pages	21
Journal	Cognitive Science
Volume	6
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/S0364-0213(82)80002-5
State	Published - 1982

Funding

*The research described here was done at the Yale Artificial Intelligence project and is funded by the Office of Navel Research under contract N00014-75-C-1111.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Artificial Intelligence

Access to Document

10.1016/S0364-0213(82)80002-5

Cite this

@article{e16ab1d970de4bc3b648fb8d4f478819,

title = "What's the point?",

abstract = "We present a theory of conversation comprehension in which a line of the conversation is {"}understood{"} by relating it to one of seven possible {"}points{"}. We define these points, and present examples where it seems plausible that the failure to {"}get the point{"} would indeed constitute a failure to understand the conversation. We argue that the recognition of such points must proceed in both a top down and bottom up fashion, and thus is likely to be quite complicated. Finally, we see the processing of information in the conversation to be dependent upon which point classification the user decides upon.",

author = "Schank, {Roger C.} and Collins, {Gregg C.} and Ernest Davis and Johnson, {Peter N.} and Steve Lytinen and Reiser, {Brian J.}",

note = "Funding Information: *The research described here was done at the Yale Artificial Intelligence project and is funded by the Office of Navel Research under contract N00014-75-C-1111.",

year = "1982",

doi = "10.1016/S0364-0213(82)80002-5",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "6",

pages = "255--275",

journal = "Cognitive Science",

issn = "0364-0213",