Universität Bielefeld - Technische Fakultät - AG Wissensbasierte Systeme - Alignment in Communication (SFB 673)




When persons communicate, they constantly evolve models of their communication partners, covering aspects on different levels and being partial in that only relevant aspects are stored. The project A1 is concerned with establishing and maintaining individual partner models that make use of implicit memory recall in order to allow for alignment processes. Partner models comprise mechanisms and representations which are crucial for adaptation to the situational context and they play an important role for effective conversation. Traditionally, explicit partner models have been investigated, with logical inference used to reason about the interlocutor's intentions and beliefs. But as these processes tend to be effortful, we investigate how better and faster alignment between communication partners can take place, e.g., by implicit, automatic activation processes of an autobiographical memory. In this project, we address high-level, cognitive dimensions of alignment phenomena arising in the context of a task-oriented conversation. We want to investigate face-to-face situations with up to three interlocutors. In this context two aspects are relevant: On the one hand, partner models on general aspects that can be applied to any communication partner and in which conventions such as turn-taking and focus of attention are important; on the other hand, partner models on individual features which help to align with interlocutors previously known. A typical example for the latter is the activation of the interlocutor's anterior intentions from a similar situation. This cognitive process aids in anticipating what the interlocutor is now referring to, thinking about, or trying to achieve. To this end, the project aims at investigating and implementing partner models which take into account general as well as partner specific aspects both by simulative and empirical methods.










Projekt Team:
Prof. Dr. Ipke Wachsmuth, Nadine Pfeiffer-Leßmann, Dr. Stefan Kopp


Kooperation mit:


Demos:
see: VR Lab Showcase

Projekt Publikationen:





Nadine Pfeiffer-Lessmann, last modification: 12.07.2006