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“You Can't Miss it!”: Judging the Clarity of Directions
Author(s) -
Riesbeck Christopher K.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1207/s15516709cog0403_3
Subject(s) - clarity , computer science , citation , haven , cognitive science , artificial intelligence , library science , psychology , mathematics , combinatorics , biochemistry , chemistry
Recently there has been some very interesting AI work done on the representation of knowledge of large scale maps and their use in the construction of routes through some space (Kuipers, 1978; McDermott, 1980). The stress in this work has been on how spatial information is best represented and how reasoning is performed with the assumed representation. In this paper I would like to address the natural language processing of texts giving directions and make a claim that during a casual first reading, there actually does not need to be much spatial reasoning going on at all. When I read a written set of directions, I am primarily interested whether the directions seem clear and sensible+not in constructing a map or program specifying all the turns, distances, and locales that will be involved. Certainly there are times when I have to make some kind of route or map structure, such as when I am the subject in a spatial reasoning experiment, or when I am lost and ask someone on the street for directions. But I do not need to work so hard when I am given a piece of paper with a set of directions, and I know that I will have this piece of paper with me when I actually make the trip. I know that I can always read the directions again to figure out what to do, when I actually set out on the trip.