A Functional Theory of Creative Reading

Abstract

Reading is an area of human cognition which has been studied for decades by psychologists, education researchers, and artificial intelligence researchers. Yet, there still does not exist a theory which accurately describes the complete process. We believe that these past attempts fell short due to an incomplete understanding of the overall task of reading; namely, the complete set of mental tasks a reasoner must perform to read and the mechanisms that carry out these tasks. We present a functional theory of the reading process and argue that it represents a coverage of the task. The theory combines experimental results from psychology, artificial intelligence, education, and linguistics, along with the insights we have gained from our own research. This greater understanding of the mental tasks necessary for reading will enable new natural language understanding systems to be more flexible and more capable than earlier ones. Furthermore, we argue that creativity is a necessary component of the reading process and must be considered in any theory or system attempting to describe it. We present a functional theory of creative reading and a novel knowledge organization scheme that supports the creativity mechanisms. The reading theory is currently being implemented in the ISAAC (Integrated Story Analysis And Creativity) system, a computer system which reads science fiction stories. Report Documentation PageForm Public reporting burden for the collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. REPORT DATE JAN 19942. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-1994 to 00-00-1994 Reading is an area of human cognition which has been studied for decades by psychologists, education researchers, and artificial intelligence researchers. Yet, there still does not exist a theory which accurately describes the complete process. We believe that these past attempts fell short due to an incomplete understanding of the overall task of reading; namely, the complete set of mental tasks a reasoner must perform to read and the mechanisms that carry out these tasks. We present a functional theory of the reading process and argue that it represents a coverage of the task. The theory combines experimental results from psychology, artificial intelligence, education, and linguistics, along with the insights we h...

Yaratici Bi̇r Süreç Olarak Okuma

“…Yeni kavramları anlama yeteneği ya da Moorman ve Ram'ın (1994a;1994b;1996;1999) adlandırması ile yaratıcı anlama işlevsel okuma modelinin temel kavramlarından bir diğeridir. Yaratıcı anlama, okurun kendi dünyasıyla uyumlu olmayan kavramları anlamak için gerçekleştirdiği bir açıklama ve nedenleme girişimidir.…”

“…Eğer bir örnekseme ilişkisinde, örneksemenin kaynağı olan ya da örneksemeyi şekillendiren herhangi bir kavram yoksa bu kez ortaya temelsiz örnekseme çıkar (Moorman ve Ram, 1996). Bu durumda usavurucu temel'i de kendisi yapılandırmak zorundadır.…”

Question Generation for Learning by Reading

“…Ram [12,13] developed a theory of questions and question answering that was implemented in his thesis project AQUA. Moorman [10] …”

Creativity, combination, and cognition

“…Application of new inferential methods can also produce novelty. For example, intentional reinterpretation of an idea in terms of a different but familiar idea (Jones 1992), intentional alternative decomposition of a problem, or intentional constraint relaxation and substitution (Moorman & Ram 1994) can lead to useful problem reformations. Visualization and thought experiments can also open new possibilities (Nersessian 1993).…”

“…Visualization and thought experiments can also open new possibilities (Nersessian 1993). Finally, differences in results will be produced by differences in control methods, such as taking cognitive risks (e.g., "suspending disbelief" (Moorman & Ram 1994), or suspending criticism while exploring a silly idea (Kolodner & Wills 1993). Knowledge representation (and representational change), inference, and control are the main interrelated pieces of the creativity puzzle.…”