Images, Words, and Gestures

Ware Chapter 9

University of Texas – Pan AmericanCSCI 6361, Spring 2014

Introduction: Pictures and Words

• Addresses relationships between visual information and verbal or textual information

• Dual coding theory

• When should we use a visual display?

• What is a visual language? – And does it make sense to use one to program a computer

• How to integrate images and words

A Memory Demonstration

• Remembering words (and lots of things) is not easy

• Given a is a list of 10 words

• Try to remember them

Method of Loci - a Mnemonic

• Remembering things, especially long sequences, not a new problem– Speech, tasks to do, names, …

• Dating back to Greek times, have been various mnemonic devices

• Method of loci, or places– Uses places and encoding of items– E.g., take a walk through your apartment, or across campus, or your parents’

house – some well known place• A “memory palace”

– In Renaissance, mol widely used, cathedrals served nicely

– Identify several points• E.g., 10 for the demonstration

– When a sequence is given, place each element at a (physical) point on the path• The more “memorable”, or bizarre, the image the better

– To retrieve the elements, walk through the physical place

• Memory demo again, but will do it using method of loci

“How to Build a Memory Palace”http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Memory-Palace

• Decide on a blueprint for your palace. – The larger or more detailed the real place,

the more information you can store in the corresponding mental space.

• Define a route. – If you will need to remember things in a

certain order, it is essential that you follow a specific route through your palace, both in the real world and in you mind.

• Identify specific storage locations in your palace or along your route.

– Identify as many locations as you think you will need.

– Walk through your structure or along your route and really observe it.

• Memorize your memory palace.

• Place things to be remembered in your palace.

– Put a manageable amount of information in each place.

• Use symbols. – Generally, all you need to store in each

location is something that will jog your memory, something that will lead you to the actual idea you’re trying to remember.

• Be creative. – Generally, images will be more

memorable if they are absurd (out of the ordinary

• Stock your palace with other mnemonics.

– “Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge," which would in turn allow you to recall the order of notes on the lines in treble clef (EGBDF).

• Explore your palace. – Go through it and look at them.

• Use your palace. – just follow your route in order as you

do so.

• Build new palaces. – If you need only commit things to

memory for a short time. Just replace the existing contents with new ones

– If you need to remember the contents of your palace for a long time, you can keep that palace as it is and create new ones in which to store other information as needed

Memory Demo, Again

• Same song – new technique

Coding Words and Images: Two Systems

• Bertin, Semiology of Graphics (1983)– Two distinct sign systems

• Associated with auditory information processing– Includes mathematical symbols, natural language, music

• Based on visual information processing– Includes graphics, abstract and figurative imagery

• Pavio (1987), dual coding theory– Two different types of information in working memory

• Imagens – mental representation of visual information– Objects, natural groupings of objects, whole parts of objects (e.g., arm), spatial

information about layout/arrangement• Logogens – mental representation of language information

– Basic information pertaining to language, but not sounds of words– Processed by a set of functional subsystems that provide support for reading and

writing, understanding and producing speech, logical thought– Not necessarily tied to speech, e.g., deaf and Braille and sign language

Pavio’s Dual Coding Theory, 1

• Account of memory (with implications for perception)– Refines/extends basic approach of 3-stage model of

human memory– Sharpens ideas about object recognition

• “Makes sense” – split between visual and verbal processing

– Long known are different neural processing centers for: • Verbal information (speech areas of temporal cortex) • Visual information (visual cortex)

• Core of rationale for use of visual representations– Especially to facilitate learning

• E.g., concrete mnemonic devices– Greek orators …– Walk through your house and put …

– Primary rationale for “multimedia”!• Provides account of why it works

– For our purposes, informs use of visual representation• With “words”, in larger context of diagrams, etc.• Sharpening up relation of “visual” with “semantic, …”

• Processing:– Visual-spatial information– Visual text– Acoustic verbal stimuli

Pavio’s Dual Coding Theory, 2

• Processing:– Visual-spatial information

• Enters through visual system– Fed into association

structures in nonverbal imagen system

– Visual text• Processed,

– But then fed into association structures of logogens

– Acoustic verbal stimuli • Processed in auditory system

– Then fed into logogen system

• Logogens and imagens can be strongly interlinked

– E.g., word “cat” and language-based concepts related to cats will be linked to visual information related to the appearance of cats

– Method of loci, multimedia, etc.

•Imagens – mental representation of visual informationObjects, natural groupings of objects, whole parts of objects (e.g., arm), spatial information about layout/arrangement

•Logogens – mental representation of language informationBasic information pertaining to language, but not sounds of wordsProcessed by a set of functional subsystems that provide support for reading and writing, understanding and producing speech, logical thoughtNot necessarily tied to speech, e.g., deaf and Braille and sign language

“Thinking” Visually

• Usually associate processes of “thinking”, e.g., greater than, follows from, “logic”, etc., with “verbal” (logogen based system)

• More recently, such operations as part of the “visual” (imagen based system) are finding evidence

– E.g., Subjects report using imagery when compare sizes of light bulb and tennis ball, color (green) of pea and Christmas tree

– Positive emission tomography (PET) evidence• Visual processing centers active when imagery

invoked• Buy, when mentally change size and position of

imagined object, different visual areas of brain activated

• Imagery alone vs. operations on (processing, thinking with) imagery

– When see a cow and imagine a cow same neural pathways (in part) excited

– In accord with accounts of object recognition in which object is “recognized” through interaction of stimuli (bottom up) and memory (top down)

• See figure at right– Visual memory traces stored as part of processing– Hence, recognition is easier than recall

• Matching with something stored (which in part drives recognition)

• Vs. reconstructing all pieces from input of event alone

The Nature of Language(s)

• Noam Chomsky:– Innate deep structures (meaning)– Surface structure (syntax, form)

• That nature of natural (everyday, spoken) language is quite similar to formal description of languages appropriate to describe all languages (natural and formal) is among larger advances of 20th century

– Universality of human language– And, e.g., Chomsky hierarchy of (deep)

interest to computer scientists

• Critical period for language development

• But being verbal is not essential to language development

• Sign languages for the deaf are the most perfect examples of visual language

What is Language?

• Language provides:– Description – Communication of intention – Ability to communicate procedures

and sequences of operations – including logic

• if, but, causes, do a then b then c

• Sign Languages – Arose spontaneously – Are not related to verbal

languages – Have syntax – Become more abstract– To be fluent in visual (or any)

language we should be trained from early in life

Again, Visual Languages (or Not)

• Recall, some fundamental questions addressed in first of class

– Sensory and arbitrary symbols, etc.– Visual language

• Consider that hieroglyphs gave way to more abstract symbols

– Why turn back the clock?

• Can there be a true visual language?– Yes, but not for most of us!– A critical (developmental) period

• ontogenetic– Consider verbal language– Abstraction, logic

• (if, while, perhaps) – Based on speech– Sign languages are true visual languages

Visual and Verbal Pseudo-code

• Ware argues that visual languages in fact not good for expressing sequential operations common to computer programming,

• Sequence below:– Get a line of text– Change characters to all upper case– Write line to output file– While there is more input

• Better expressed by “verbal psuedo-code”:Repeat

Get a line of textChange characters to all upper caseWrite line to output file

Until there is more input

• Flow charts were wrong– Probably just wrong paradigm

• But, billions of dollars spent– Cause inappropriate/unnatural focus on detail

• Visual programming languages have history of failure

Still, Certainly Uses for Visual Represt.

• Gives rapid recognition and pattern finding (again)

• Has distinct advantages over text (linear, serial) for conveying some kinds of information

• Consider the text below:– Jane is Jim’s boss – Jim is Joe’s boss – Anne works for Jane – Mark works for Jim – Anne is Mary’s boss – Anne is Mike’s boss

• And it’s visual representation

When to Use Static Images vs. Words

• In general (rules of thumb)– Images are better than words for:

• Spatial structures• Location• Detail

– Words better for:• Procedural information• Logical condition• Abstract verbal concepts

• Images best for showing structural relationships– Links between entities and groups of entities

• E.g., bus routes shown as graphical representation led to better performance in trip planning than with tables

• Visual information generally remembered better than verbal, but not for abstract images– Visual information need be meaningful and capable of incorporation into a cognitive framework for this

advantage– Image memory can’t be so relied on if information is new and out of context

• Images best for providing detail and appearance– Amount of detail extracted (and remembered) depends on time to study

• Recall, silhoettes first, so line drawing best for rapid extraction

• Information that specifies conditions under which something should or should not be done is better provided using text or spoken language

Gestures, and Linking Images and Words

• Deixis and the deictic gesture– Gesture that links subject of a spoken sentence with a visual reference – Can be a glance or a nod – Pre-speech – Shown to disambiguate verbal communications

• Why the mouse is so powerful …

• Other kinds of gestures– Beat gestures for emphasis – Verb gestures showing how to do something – McNeil Hand and mind

• Issues in shared environments– Speech + Pointer + Visuals – most important components – Subtle ways of directing attention also important in meeting dynamics.

• Linking images and words– Deixis– Pointing is an elementary speech act. – Pointing links images and words – Put that (points) there (points) – Subject verb predicate

Attaching Words to Images

• Turns out the use of words and images together work just fine – Or even quite well

• “Association” (grouping) can be explained by Gestalt principles

Examples of Integrated Pictures and Words

• Examples

Another Ex. of Integrated Pictures and Words

• More examples

Yet Another Ex. of Integrated Pics. and Words

Examples of visual languages

• As noted, limited success of visual languages, especially for programming

• Still, some examples– Sanscrit , Petri-nets, Khoros

Sanscrit

• To program:– Count from 1 to 3– for i = 1 to 3 do

Petri Net Language

• Petri nets are stochastic– timed attributed (tokens on

nodes, transitions)

Khoros

• Combine operations

Conclusions

• Interesting, and not fully understood interaction between the two processing subsystems– “Visual”, images, imagens– “Verbal”, auditory, logogens

• Though certainly there can be “visual languages”, finding useful applications has been elusive

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