Unmesh Kurup

Research & Academics

Research Interests

Human reasoning uses many non-symbolic representations, the most common one being some sort of diagram or sketch. There is consensus that such representations (especially such external representations) play an important role in the reasoning process though their exact representational nature is a matter of contention. The debates between Pylyshyn and Kossyln notwithstanding, my approach has been to study these problems from a computational perspective and within the constraints of an architectural framework. Integration lies at the core of this process because it involves adding additional modalities while minimizing changes to the existing structure.

Most of my research has been focused on the use of non-symbolic representations in problem solving, but these representations are useful in many other situations. For example, I have investigated their use in cognitive modeling tasks where their use can be shown to result in errors in recall. In addition, there are also applications to HCI where the ability to represent and use non-symbolic representations allows an artificial agent to effectively communicate with humans. This and other advantages (use in recall, episodic memory etc) of such representations are additional areas of interest.

Goals

The overall goal of my research to is to understand the nature of non-symbolic representations such as diagrammatic or spatial representations and their role in human cognition, especially in problem solving. I’m particularly attracted to the cognitive architecture approach to studying these problems due to a number of reasons including the fact that they provide a baseline against which to compare and contrast the effectiveness of such representations.

Further Information

Curriculum Vitae
Publications