LCWU

Knowledge Representation

Artificial Intelligence

Conceptual Graphs
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Contents
• Definition of Conceptual Graphs
• Basic building blocks
• Exercise

2
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Definition of Conceptual Graphs

• John Sowa, formerly of IBM, is one of the key proponents of
conceptual graphs (CG). Sowa’s project is to create "a system of
logic for representing natural language semantics".

• Conceptual graphs form a knowledge representation language based on

the one hand in linguistics, psychology and philosophy, and data
structures and data processing techniques on the other.

3
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Definition of Conceptual Graphs

• The main aim is mapping perception onto an abstract representation
and reasoning system.

• A conceptual graph consists of concept nodes and relation nodes

– The concept nodes represent entities, attributes, states, and events
– The relation nodes show how the concepts are interconnected

4
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Conceptual Graphs: Basic Structure

("The cat sat on the mat")
Rules for assembling
Words
percepts
Percepts Grammar Rules

CAT STAT SIT LOC MAT

PS: percepts are fragments of images that fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle

5
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Conceptual Graphs: Basic Structure

• Alternative notation for text based representation:

[cat] --> (stat) --> [sit] --> (loc) --> [mat]

• Square brackets denote concept nodes.

• Parentheses denote relation nodes.

6
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

A Graph-Theoretic Definition
• Conceptual Graphs are finite, connected, bipartite graphs.

– Finite: because any graph (in 'human brain' or 'computer storage') can
only have a finite number of concepts and conceptual relations.

– Connected: because two parts that are not connected would simply be
called two conceptual graphs.

– Bipartite: because there are two different kinds of nodes: concepts and
conceptual relations, and every arc links a node of one kind to a node of
another kind

7
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Perception
• ‘Perception is the process of building a working model that represents
and interprets sensory input’.

8
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Perception
• For Sowa, a sensory icon is matched in an ideal brain to a single
percept or to a collection of percepts, which are combined to form a
complete image: an interconnected set of percepts.

• Percepts are combined in the brain and their interconnections stored as

a conceptual graph.

9
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Conceptual Graphs Example

• Consider the sentence: "A cat sitting on a mat"

• This sentence can be interpreted at different levels:

1. There are concrete concepts: cat, mat and sitting which enable us to
experience the external word and motor mechanism to react to it.

2. The words of our natural language, arranged in accordance with the

grammar of the language, is one way of articulating and disseminating
the experience.

10
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Conceptual Graphs Example

3. Each of the concepts in the sentence belongs to, or can be related
to, a category or class:

Animal>Cat; Furniture>Mat; Posture>Sit;

Living Being>Animal; Household Objects>Furniture; Act>Posture

Thus

Cat – Sit – Mat Increasing

Animal – Posture – Furniture Abstraction
Living Being – Act – Household Object

A hierarchy of concept type defines the relationship between concepts at

different levels of generality

11
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Conceptual Graphs Example

4. The concepts cat-sit-mat are related to each other in that:

– It is a common observation that some animate objects do sit on

certain concrete objects

– Even if we had never seen a cat sitting on a mat, we may derive the
conceptual graph on the basis of observation

– The order of the concrete concepts is important in that were we to

say that mat-sit-cat, it would be difficult to match this stated percept
with a conceptual graph in the ideal brain.

– Formation rules determine how each type of concept may be linked

to conceptual relations.

12
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Conceptual Graphs Example

5. The above sentence relates to an episode or to some context to
which it is relevant.

6. Each episode may have some deeper mental associations, like

emotions.

7. When we ask the question: what is the cat doing?, the answer is
that the cat is sitting and that its current location is the mat. The
cat’s STATe, its current ACTivity, its LOCation may each be
related to a procedure of some type.

13
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Conceptual Relations
• Concepts are linked by conceptual relations to form a conceptual
graph.

• If a conceptual relation has n-arcs, then it is said to be n-adic, and its

arcs are labelled 1, 2, …..n

14
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Example
• Consider the sentence:
– Mary gave John the boring book authored by Tom & Jerry

(1) (2) (3)

• There are three main parts: (1), (2), and (3)

15
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Example
(1): Mary gave John the boring book authored by Tom & Jerry

Person: Mary agent give

Person: John recipient

Both relation nodes have two arcs each and are referred to as expressing a 2-
ary or binary relation between the two concepts

16
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Example
(2): Mary gave John the boring book authored by Tom & Jerry

book boring

The relation node has only one arc and thus refers to a 1-ary or unary relation

17
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Example
(3): Mary gave John the boring book authored by Tom & Jerry

Person: Tom

book author

Person: Jerry

The relation node has 3-arcs and is referred to as expressing 3-ary or ternary
relation

18
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Formal Conceptual Relations

Concept 1 Concept 2 Relation

Entity:*x Entity*y accompaniment (ACCM)
attribute (ATTR)
characteristic (CHRC)
content (CONT)
part (PART)
possession (POSS)
support (SUPP)
Event(Act) Attribute manner (MANR)

19
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Formal Conceptual Relations

Concept 1 Concept 2 Relation

Event(Act) Entity result (RSLT)
source (SOUR)
Event(Act) Entity (Animate) agent (AGNT)
recipient (RCPT)
Event(Act) Entity (Place) destination (DEST)
path (PATH)
Entity (Substance) material (MATR)
Function Data argument (ARG)
State*x State*y causation (CAUS)

20
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Concept Nodes
• CG allows nodes to be labelled simultaneously with the name of the
individual the node represents and its type. The two are separated by a
colon (":")

• Consider the example:

– Tom, a cat, is brown

cat: "Tom" colour brown

21
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Concept Nodes: Unnamed Individuals

• Consider the example that we do not know the name of a cat that is
brown:

cat: #12345 colour brown

• Each concept node in a CG may be used to represent specific but

unnamed individuals by a unique prescribed number.

22
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Concept Nodes: Multiple Names

• We subsequently found out that the cat is called by different names:
"Sylvester", "Sugar Pie" and "Squidgy Bod":

name "Sylvester"

cat: #12345 name "Sugar Pie"

name "Squidgy Bod"

23
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Concept Nodes: Unspecified Individuals

• General markers can also be used to refer to an unspecified individual.
The CG:

cat colour brown

• Refers to an unspecified cat. Notationally, unspecified individuals are

shown by the existence of an asterisk ("*")

cat: * colour brown

• BUT… this is usually omitted (cat = cat:*).

24
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Concept Nodes: Named Variables

• Named variables can also be used to refer to an individual. These are
represented by an asterisk followed by the variable name.

• This is useful to indicate nodes that are the same unspecified

individual.

dog:*X agent scratch object ear

instrument part

paw part dog:*X

25
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Exercises
• Please create the conceptual graph of the following sentence:

– John is between a rock and a hard place

26
 LCWU
Knowledge Representation

Solution 1
• "John is between a rock and a hard place"

rock

person: John between

place

attribute hard

27