The Process of Question Answering: A Computer Simulation of Cognition

Description

Originally published in 1978, The Process of Question Answering examines a phenomenon that relies on many realms of human cognition: language comprehension, memory retrieval, and language generation. Problems in computational question answering assume a new perspective when question answering is viewed as a problem in natural language processing. A theory of human question answering must necessarily entail a theory of human memory organization and theories of the cognitive processes that access and manipulate information in memory. This book describes question answering as a particular task in information processing. The theoretical models described here have been built on a formulation of general theories in natural language processing: theories about language that were developed without the specific problem of question answering in mind. By requiring programmers to be concerned with the precise form of information in memory, and the precise operations manipulating that information, they can uncover significant problems that would otherwise be overlooked. An early insight into artificial intelligence, today this reissue can be enjoyed in its historical context. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Original Title Page Dedication Original Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface 1 Problems, Previews, and Programs 1.0 Introduction 1.1 What Is Hard About Answering Questions? 1.2 Where We are Going 1.3 QUALM 1.4 Computer Programs Using QUALM 2 Motivation and Background 2.0 Human Question Answering 2.1 Conceptual Dependency 2.2 Causal Chain Constructions 2.3 Understanding Stories 2.4 Scripts and Plans 2.5 Story Representations 2.6 Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Psychology Part I: Interpretation: Understanding Questions Introduction Four Levels of Understanding The Conceptual Parse Memory Internalization Conceptual Categorization Inferential Analysis 3 Conceptual Categories for Questions 3.0 Introduction 3.1 Causal Antecedent 3.2 Goal Orientation 3.3 Enablement 3.4 Causal Consequent 3.5 Verification 3.6 Disjunctive 3.7 Instrumental/Procedural 3.8 Concept Completion 3.9 Expectational 3.10 Judgmental 3.11 Quantification 3.12 Feature Specification 3.13 Request 3.14 The Question Analyzer 4 Recategorizing Questions by Inferential Analysis 4.0 Introduction 4.1 Contextual Inferences 4.2 Context-Independent Inferences 4.3 Knowledge-State-Assessment Inferences Part II: Memory Searches: Finding An Answer Introduction Deciding How To Answer a Question Carrying Out Orders Answering Better by Understanding More Generation into English 5. Content Specification 5.0 Introduction 5.1 Intentionality 5.2 Elaboration Options 5.3 Category-Trace Instructions 5.4 Elaborating Upon Elaboration Options 6 Searching Memory 6.0 Introduction 6.1 Causal Antecedent 6.2 Goal Orientation 6.3 Enablement 6.4 Causal Consequent 6.5 Verification 6.6 Disjunctive 6.7 Instrumental/Procedural 6.8 Concept Completion 6.9 Expectational 6.10 Judgmental 6.11 Quantification 6.12 Feature Specification 6.13 Concluding Remarks on Retrieval Heuristics 7 Focus Establishment 7.0 Introduction 7.1 Different Kinds of Focus 7.2 When Focus Is Established 7.3 A Script-Based Focus Heuristic 8 Understanding What Did Not Happen 8.0 Introduction 8.1 Aroused Expectations 8.2 Violated Expectations 8.3 Answering Questions About Expectations 8.4 Answering Questions About Possibilities 8.5 Classification of Expectational Questions 8.6 Script-Based Expectations 8.7 How to Remember Things You Forgot 9 Finding the Best Answer 9.0 Introduction 9.1 Answer-Selection Model 9.2 Going Beyond Answer Selection 9.3 Looking Inside MBUILDs 9.4 Concluding Remarks 10 Conceptual Primitives for Physical Objects 10.0 Introduction 10.1 Object Primitives 10.2 Applications for Object Primitives 10.3 Conclusions 11 More Problems 11.0 Preface 11.1 Consistency Checks 11.2 Modeling Knowledge States 11.3 Conversation Theory 11.4 What Every Lawyer Should Know 11.5 General Q/A 12 Perspective and Conclusions 12.0 Preface 12.1 Other Q/A Systems 12.2 Summary References Author Index Subject Index