ESQIMO : Modeling Analogy with Topology
Erika Valencia, Jean‐Louis Giavitto, Jean‐Paul Sansonnet · 1998
ESQIMO is a computational model for analogy solving based on a topological formalism of knowledge representation. The source and the target analogs are represented as simplicial complexes and the analogy solving is modeled as a topological deformation of these complexes along a polygonal chain. Key Words: Analogy solving, Algebraic topology, Simplicial complexes, IQ-tests. TOPOLOGY FOR KNOWLEDGE REPRESENTATION A representational formalism for analogy must allow the explicit expression of the features involved in similarity. M. Johnson (Johnson, 1987) argues that mental images are too close to perception and that logic approaches are too syntactic and arbitrary for representational purposes. He proposes to use a topological structure to represent and solve metaphors (which he considers to be the generalization of analogies (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980)). Simplicial Complexes Cognitive models use different models of space (Freska, 1997; Johnson, 1987) and the central question is in the...