Towards a construction-based framework for development of language, event perception and social cognition: Insights from grounded robotics and simulation

The current research addresses the question of how neurocomputational mechanisms developed for a given cognitive function can be adapted to novel functions. In this context, research in language development has contributed to the concept of grammatical construction defined in terms of a functional mapping between the surface structure of an utterance, and its meaning. The objective of the current research is to generalize this notion of construction, and demonstrate its possible application in two cognitive areas that are adjacent and related to language, notably the understanding of physical events based on vision, and the understanding of the intentions of other agents based on observation of their behavior in the context of a perceptually grounded robotic system.