2002-03-12Z2011-03-11T08:54:54Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2132This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/21322002-03-12ZSymbol Grounding and the Symbolic Theft HypothesisComputational simulations are used to model the following: (1) category learning through sensorimotor trial and error ("sensorimotor toil") and how it generates categorical perception (decreased between-category similarity and increased within-category similarity); (2) symbol grounding (the connection between symbols and the sensorimotor categories that they name); (3) the origins of language as the capacity to acquire categories indirectly, by definition alone ("symbolic theft"); and (4) the evolutionary advantage of acquiring categories by this symbolic theft instead of sensorimotor toil.Angelo CangelosiAlberto GrecoStevan Harnad