Embodiment and self-organization of human categories : a case study for speech

The paper considers explanations for the kinds of categories that have been found to be involved in human behavior. It insists that embodiment not only plays an important role in shaping these categories, but also that the collective dynamics generated by social interaction is of equal importance. A case study is developed for speech sounds. We show through computer simulations how a group of autonomous agents equipped with a (sufficiently) realistic perceptual and auditory apparatus can arrive at a shared repertoire of vowels and that these vowel systems exhibit the same universal trends that are found in human vowel systems. It is significant that this happens without innate a priori categories.

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