TATA INFOTECH OFFICES	Why Speech, Vision and Language? Why does the Cognitive Systems Research Lab lay emphasis on Speech, Vision and Language? Speech and language constitute the main faculties of human cognition. Speech and Language are the most spontaneous and primary avenues for exchange of information between humans. They account for over 70% of the information that a human acquires in his life. Vision accounts for most of the remaining 30%. Speech and language have undoubtedly played a major role in the emergence and enhancement of intelligence in humans, causing them to race ahead of all other aspects. For instance, intelligent thinking in any reasonable sense would not be possible without language of some sort. Implementing systems for visual pattern recognition and natural language systems in computers is intellectually very challenging. Moreover, they hold the potential for many practical applications. Language enables thought transparence and visualisation. In other words, we need language to convey our thoughts to another person. Language provides mental workspace for 'safe experimentation' with the world. For instance, one can hypothesize and analyze specific situations example, if I run fast across the highway with my eyes closed, I might get hit by a truck or, if I smoke, I might get cancer etc. Language permits such safe experimentation on a 'mental' plane, and avoids the risk involved in actually doing the experiment in the real world. In this sense, language provides an 'abstract workbench' where ideas can be experimented with. For e.g., each stanza of the film song 'Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Ho ... Aur Chaabi Kho Jai ...' is a beautiful illustration of using language for conceptual experimentation, without actually facing the situation in the real world. So is the song 'Jhoot Bole Kauva Kaate'. Thanks to language, the human brain can readily access a veritable treasure house of thoughts of other members of the species. The 'Vedas' were the embodiments of knowledge, even prior to written language; they used the spoken word as a vehicle for transmission from one person to another. Language enables thought transparence and visualisation. In other words, we need language to convey our thoughts to other people. Language and Intelligence: A central part of intelligence is the ability to ask and answer questions. This requires language competence. Conversely, even use of language demands high intelligence. Thus, language competence itself is generally considered to be proof of intelligence. A person who does not have the ability to understand language or to articulate his thoughts can hardly be called intelligent. The mentally retarded find it very difficult to acquire language skills. next page>>>