Geert Brône

Cognitive Poetics: Goals, Gains and Gaps

This volume offers a state-of-the-art collection of studies in the rapidly growing interdisciplinary field of cognitive poetics. In coupling cognitive linguistics and poetics, cognitive poeticians aim to offer cognitive readings of literary texts. By bringing together key players and critics in a setting of interdisciplinary dialogue, this volume captures the goals, gains and gaps of this emerging field.

Towards a more effective method for analyzing mobile eye-tracking data: integrating gaze data with object recognition algorithms

In this paper we present the outlines of a new project that aims at developing and implementing effective new methods for analyzing gaze data collected with mobile eye-tracking devices. More specifically, we argue for the integration of object recognition algorithms from vision engineering, such as invariant region matching techniques, in gaze analysis software. We present a series of arguments why an object-based approach may provide a significant surplus, in terms of analytical precision, flexibility, additional application areas and cost efficiency, to the existing systems that use predefined areas of analysis. In order to test the actual analytical power of object recognition algorithms for the analysis of gaze data recorded in the wild, we develop a series of test cases in different real world situations, including shopping behavior, navigation, handling and usability of mobile systems. By setting up these case studies in close collaboration with key players in the relevant fields (retailers, signage consultants, market and user-experience research, and developers of eye-tracking hard- and software), we will be able to sketch an accurate picture of the pros and cons of the proposed method in comparison to current analytical practice.

Assessing the SSTH and GTVH: a view from cognitive linguistics

Abstract Despite its strong cognitive orientation in recent years, humor research still has paid relatively little attention to the paradigm of Cognitive linguistics (CL), which in light of its dynamic view on cognitive and semantic aspects of language in use, seems to provide an adequate framework for the analysis of humor. With regard to the “cognitive construal” of human experience as one of the basic notions of CL, this paper describes for three types of humorous texts in what ways construal operations are exploited, combined, and embedded in humorous discourse, as well as the way in which they relate to the achievement of humorous effects. It is demonstrated, accordingly, that CL contributes to a holistic account of humor as a highly marked and complex, yet structurally not irregular kind of language use. In this respect, this contribution is particularly critical about the category of Logical Mechanisms, defined in the GTVH as humor-specific operations that guide the process of incongruity resolution in humor interpretation. Instead, the present account advocates a prototype model of construal operations, in which incongruity and resolution appear as two perspectives of the same cognitive construal.

Introduction: Cognitive linguistic approaches to humor

Abstract Ever since the publication of Victor Raskins seminal work on the Semantic Mechanisms of Humor (1985), linguistic humor research has had a decidedly cognitive orientation. The cognitive psychological roots of the Semantic Script Theory of Humor (SSTH) presented in the aforementioned book, have been adopted in a large number of studies that have appeared since. In this respect, Attardo, in a recent discussion on the cognitive turn in literary studies, points out “that linguists who study humor may well be pleased to find out that they were doing cognitive stylistics all along” (2002: 231). Indeed, the two most influential linguistic humor theories of the last two decades, the SSTH and the General Theory of Verbal Humor (GTVH, Attardo and Raskin 1991; Attardo 1994, 1997, 2001a), along with a number of other theoretical studies (Giora 1991; Kottho 1998; Yus 2003) share some significant features with the broad linguistic framework that is the methodological angle of the present thematic issue, viz. Cognitive Linguistics (CL).

Processing Deliberate Ambiguity in Newspaper Headlines: Double Grounding

Two experiments investigated the processing and appreciation of double grounding, a form of intentional ambiguity often used in the construction of headlines. For example, in “Russia takes the froth off Carlsberg results,” the key element, “takes the froth off,” is significant both metaphorically, where it refers to the detrimental impact of Russia, and metonymically via a contextual link between the company Carlsberg and beer, its best-known product. This study predicted that double-grounded metaphors would be more cognitively demanding than comparable single-grounded metaphors (where there is no such contextual link) and that, consequently, they would result in greater cognitive effects. Experiment 1 found longer reading times for headlines that employed double-grounded metaphors than for headlines that employed single-grounded metaphors with a similar meaning. Results suggested the re-profiling of the literal interpretation in double-grounded metaphors is cognitively demanding. Experiment 2 found that double-grounded metaphors were rated higher on a wittiness scale than single-grounded ones, revealing the aesthetic effect of double grounding. Results of Experiment 2 also suggest that participants in Experiment 1 were aware of the local ambiguity, ruling out the possibility that increased reading times observed in that experiment indexed failure of comprehension. Results of both experiments are discussed in terms of ideas from cognitive semantics.

Automatic analysis of eye-tracking data using object detection algorithms

In this paper we investigate the integration of object detection algorithms with eye-tracking data. The emerging technology of lightweight mobile eye-trackers enables realistic in-the-wild user experience experiments. Unfortunately, mobile eye-trackers generate a large amount of video data, which up to now requires manual analysis. This time-consuming and repetitive task renders processing large datasets economically infeasible. Our main contribution is the use of object detection algorithms to perform this analysis task automatically. We compare several object detection algorithms with regard to both speed and accuracy. To prove their functionality, we have recorded an eye-tracker shopping experiment and processed the data using object detection techniques.

Automatic analysis of in-the-wild mobile eye-tracking experiments using object, face and person detection

In this paper we present a novel method for the automatic analysis of mobile eye-tracking data in natural environments. Mobile eye-trackers generate large amounts of data, making manual analysis very time-consuming. Available solutions, such as marker-based analysis minimize the manual labour but require experimental control, making real-life experiments practically unfeasible. We present a novel method for processing this mobile eye-tracking data by applying object, face and person detection algorithms. Furthermore we present a temporal smoothing technique to improve the detection rate and we trained a new detection model for occluded person and face detections. This enables the analysis to be performed on the object level rather than the traditionally used coordinate level. We present speed and accuracy results of our novel detection scheme on challenging, large-scale real-life experiments.

Cognitive poetics: A critical introduction

This volume offers a state-of-the-art collection of studies in the rapidly growing interdisciplinary field of cognitive poetics. In coupling cognitive linguistics and poetics, cognitive poeticians aim to offer cognitive readings of literary texts. By bringing together key players and critics in a setting of interdisciplinary dialogue, this volume captures the goals, gains and gaps of this emerging field.

Metaphor and figure-ground relationship: comparisons from poetry, music, and the visual arts

The gestalt notion “figure–ground phenomenon” refers to the characteristic organisation of perception into a figure that ‘stands out’ against an undifferentiated background. What is figural at any one moment depends on patterns of sensory stimulation and on the momentary interests of the perceiver. Figure–ground relationship is an important element of the way we organise reality in our awareness, including works of art. Poets may rely on our habitual figure–ground organisations in extra-linguistic reality to exploit our flexibility in shifting attention from one aspect to another so as to achieve certain poetic effects by inducing us to reverse the habitual figure–ground relationships. This flexibility has precedent in music and the visual arts. Works by Escher, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dickinson, Sidney, Shelley, Beckett and Alterman are examined.

Semi-automatic Hand Detection - A Case Study on Real Life Mobile Eye-tracker Data

In this paper we present a highly accurate algorithm for the detection of human hands in real-life 2D image sequences. Current state of the art algorithms show relatively poor detection accuracy results on unconstrained, challenging images. To overcome this, we introduce a detection scheme in which we combine several well known detection techniques combined with an advanced elimination mechanism to reduce false detections. Furthermore we present a novel (semi-)automatic framework achieving detection rates up to 100%, with only minimal manual input. This is a useful tool in supervised applications where an error-free detection result is required at the cost of a limited amount of manual effort. As an application, this paper focuses on the analysis of video data of human-human interaction, collected with the scene camera of mobile eye-tracking glasses. This type of data is typically annotated manually for relevant features (e.g. visual fixations on gestures), which is a time-consuming, tedious and error-prone task. The usage of our semi-automatic approach reduces the amount of manual analysis dramatically. We also present a new fully annotated benchmark dataset on this application which we made publicly available.