Knowledge representation and acquisition for large-scale semantic memory

Acquisition and representation of semantic concepts is a necessary requirement for the understanding of natural languages by cognitive systems. Word games provide an interesting opportunity for semantic knowledge acquisition that may be used to construct semantic memory. A task-dependent architecture of the knowledge base inspired by psycholinguistic theories of human cognition process is introduced. The core of the system is an algorithm for semantic search using a simplified vector representation of concepts. Based on this algorithm a 20 questions game has been implemented. This implementation provides an example of an application of the semantic memory, but also allows for testing the linguistic competence of the system. A web portal with Haptek-based talking head interface facilitates acquisition of a new knowledge while playing the game and engaging in dialogs with users.