CMN 2014 - 2014 Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative

Narratives are ubiquitous in human experience. We use them to communicate, convince, explain, and entertain. As far as we know, every society in the world has narratives, which suggests they are rooted in our psychology and serve an important cognitive function. It is becoming increasingly clear that, to truly understand and explain human intelligence, beliefs, and behaviors, we will have to understand why and to what extent narrative is universal and explain (or explain away) the function it serves. The aim of this workshop series is to address key questions that advance our understanding of narrative and our ability to model it computationally.
Special Focus: Neuroscience
This workshop will be an appropriate venue for papers addressing fundamental topics and questions regarding narrative. The workshop will be co-located with the following meetings:
36th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci 2014, July 23-26)
28th Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-14, July 27-31)
23rd Annual Computational Neuroscience Meeting (CNS 2014, July 26-31)
The workshop will have a special focus on the neuroscience of narrative. Papers should be relevant to issues fundamental to the computational modeling and scientific understanding of narrative; we especially welcome papers relevant to the neuroscientific and cognitive aspects of narrative. Neuroscientific or cognitive psychological experimental work which may provide insights critical to computational modeling is appropriate for this workshop, and is encouraged. Discussing technological applications or motivations is not prohibited, but is not required. We accept both finished research and more tentative exploratory work.
Illustrative Topics and Questions
What are the neural correlates of narrative or narrative processing?
How can we study narrative from a neuroscientific point of view?
What cognitive competencies underlie narrative, and how may they be studied?
Can narrative be subsumed by current models of higher-level cognition, or does it require new approaches?
How do narratives mediate our cognitive experiences, or affect our cognitive abilities?
How are narratives indexed and retrieved? Is there a universal scheme for encoding episodic information?
What comprises the set of possible narrative arcs? Is there such a set? How many possible story lines are there?
Is narrative structure universal, or are there systematic differences in narratives from different cultures?
What makes narrative different from a list of events or facts? What is special that makes something a narrative?
What are the details of the relationship between narrative and common sense?
What shared resources are required for the computational study of narrative? What should a “Story Bank” contain?
What shared resources are available, or how can already-extant resources be adapted to the study of narrative?
What are appropriate formal or computational representations for narrative?
How should we evaluate computational and formal models of narrative?
Submissions
Three types of papers will be accepted:
Long Papers (8 pages, excluding references)
Appropriate for concrete research results, including pilot studies, or studies in progress
Short Papers (4 pages, excluding references)
Appropriate for a small, focused contribution, a negative result, or an interesting application nugget.
Position Papers (2 pages, excluding references)
Appropriate for discussion of an interesting new idea, identification of important neglected areas or topics, or an opinion piece.
Details on paper formats will be forthcoming closer to the submission due date.
Organizing Committee
Mark A. Finlayson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Jan Christoph Meister, University of Hamburg, Germany
Emile Bruneau, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Previous Meetings
2013 Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative (CMN'13)
2012 Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative (CMN'12)
2010 AAAI Fall Symposium on Computational Models of Narrative, (report)
2009 MIT Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative, (report)