Document Open Access Logo

Context-Sensitive Spatial Deixis Through the Lens of Mental Models (Short Paper)

Authors Adwitiya Mandal , Zoe Falomir , Kai-Florian Richter

PDF

File

Thumbnail PDF
PDF
LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.24.pdf
  • Filesize: 2.08 MB
  • 8 pages

Document Identifiers

Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Human-centered computing → Empirical studies in HCI
  • Human-centered computing → HCI theory, concepts and models
  • Applied computing → Psychology
  • Computing methodologies → Cognitive robotics
Keywords
  • Spatial deixis
  • here and there
  • mental models
  • human-robot interaction
  • object selection
  • spatial cognition

Metrics

Abstract

The use of spatial deixis, such as here and there, depends not only on physical distance, but also on how speakers mentally organize the relevant space. This paper examines how contextual factors may influence and shape the use of spatial deixis in an object-selection task. The analysis is based on verbal data from a previous human-robot interaction study, in which 12 participants referred to objects in a shared cupboard environment. Using Norman’s distinction of socio-cognitive systems, we interpret the observed deixis behavior as evidence for potential spatial mental models underlying participants' spatial deixis use. We find that speakers' deixis use reflects a combination of absolute, relative, mixed, temporal, and response-biased models rather than a single fixed strategy. Our findings support the view that spatial deixis is context-sensitive, shaped by the mental organization of the space and is variable across individuals, with implications for interpreting spatial deixis in human-robot interaction.

Cite As Get BibTex

Adwitiya Mandal, Zoe Falomir, and Kai-Florian Richter. Context-Sensitive Spatial Deixis Through the Lens of Mental Models (Short Paper). In 17th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 393, pp. 24:1-24:8, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.24

Author Details

Adwitiya Mandal
  • Department of Computing Science, Umeå University, Sweden
Zoe Falomir
  • Department of Computing Science, Umeå University, Sweden
Kai-Florian Richter
  • Department of Computing Science, Umeå University, Sweden

Funding

  • Mandal, Adwitiya: funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR) under grant 2022-03966.
  • Falomir, Zoe: acknowledges the funding by the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program (WASP) awarded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Sweden.

Supplementary Materials

References

  1. Hissah Nasser Alothman and Haroon N Alsager. Acquisition of l2 english spatial deixes by arabic-speaking children. Frontiers in Psychology, 13:997110, 2022. Google Scholar
  2. Rory J. Bufacchi and Gian Domenico Iannetti. An action field theory of peripersonal space. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(12):1076-1090, 2018. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.09.004.
  3. Karl Bühler. Sprachtheorie, volume 2. Jena Fischer, 1934. Google Scholar
  4. Michela Caldano and Kenny R. Coventry. Spatial demonstratives and perceptual space: To reach or not to reach? Cognition, 191:103989, 2019. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.06.001.
  5. Malinda Carpenter and Michael Tomasello. Joint attention and imitative learning in children, chimpanzees, and enculturated chimpanzees. Social Development, 4(3):217-237, 1995. Google Scholar
  6. Marvin M Chun, Julie D Golomb, and Nicholas B Turk-Browne. A taxonomy of external and internal attention. Annual review of psychology, 62(1):73-101, 2011. Google Scholar
  7. Holger Diessel and Kenny R Coventry. Demonstratives in spatial language and social interaction: An interdisciplinary review. Frontiers in Psychology, 11:555265, 2020. Google Scholar
  8. Nick J Enfield. Demonstratives in space and interaction: Data from lao speakers and implications for semantic analysis. Language, 79(1):82-117, 2003. Google Scholar
  9. Charles J Fillmore. Santa cruz lectures on deixis, 1971. (No Title), 1975. Google Scholar
  10. Christian Freksa, Alexander Klippel, and Stephan Winter. A Cognitive Perspective on Spatial Context. In Anthony G. Cohn, Christian Freksa, and Bernhard Nebel, editors, Spatial Cognition: Specialization and Integration, volume 5491 of Dagstuhl Seminar Proceedings (DagSemProc), pages 1-16, Dagstuhl, Germany, 2007. Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik. URL: https://doi.org/10.4230/DagSemProc.05491.4.
  11. Thorstein Fretheim, Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, and Ildikó Vaskó. Token-reflexive, anaphoric and deictic functions of "here". Nordic Journal of Linguistics, 34(3):239-294, 2011. URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0332586512000030.
  12. Harmen B Gudde, Jacqueline Collier, and Kenny R Coventry. Spatial demonstratives and perspective taking in english and japanese. Cognitive Science, 50(3):e70183, 2026. Google Scholar
  13. Edward T Hall. Proxemics—the study of man’s spatial relations. Man’s image in medicine and anthropology, 4:1003-1026, 1963. Google Scholar
  14. William F Hanks. Referential practice: Language and lived space among the Maya. University of Chicago Press, 1990. URL: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500017036.
  15. Adwitiya Mandal, Kai-Florian Richter, and Zoe Falomir. How robots understand ‘here’ and ‘there’: A perceptual model for spatial deixis. In Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI Companion '26, pages 1018-1022, New York, NY, USA, 2026. Association for Computing Machinery. URL: https://doi.org/10.1145/3776734.3794548.
  16. Sandra Murphy. Children’s comprehension of deictic categories in oral and written language. Reading Research Quarterly, pages 118-131, 1986. Google Scholar
  17. Donald A Norman. Some observations on mental models. In Mental models, pages 7-14. Psychology Press, 2014. Google Scholar
  18. Jane Oakhill and Alan Garnham, editors. Mental models in cognitive science: essays in honour of Phil Johnson-Laird. Psychology P., 1996. Google Scholar
  19. Amalia Skilton. The deictic content of demonstratives. Language and Linguistics Compass, 18(4):e12519, 2024. URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12519.
Any Issues?
X

Feedback on the Current Page

CAPTCHA

Thanks for your feedback!

Feedback submitted to Dagstuhl Publishing

Could not send message

Please try again later or send an E-mail
© 2023-2026 Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH Schloss Dagstuhl – LZI GmbH About DROPS Imprint Privacy Contact