Tue 4th March, 11.00-12.30, M3 (room no. 1.05) Appleton Tower

Marieke Woensdregt (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

I know what you did last iteration – Modelling the role of theory of mind in communication

Theory of mind – the ability to reason about the mental states of others – plays an important role in human communication. To be able to communicate successfully, it is important that both the speaker and the hearer have a model of each other’s knowledge and interests, and their common ground. Similarly, it has been argued that language is important for theory of mind, since it provides us with labels for and conversation about mental states. This plays a role in the development of theory of mind on the individual level, as is evidenced from experimental work with both typically and atypically developing children. But more recently it has also been hypothesized that such a positive feedback interaction between language and theory of mind has played a significant in the evolution of human language and social cognition.

To be able to explore the dynamics of such an interaction computationally, a model of communication is needed in which theory of mind plays an active role. In this talk I will present my proposal for such an integrative model, and the communication and learning dynamics it results in. The model I propose here is an agent-based model of a naming game, in which theory of mind-agents can learn a function that allows them to infer which meanings in the context are salient for the interlocutor, ultimately allowing them to communicate more successfully.

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