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00100 THE CENTRAL PROCESSES OF THE MODEL
00200
00300
00400 (THIS CHAPTER REQUIRES MANY FLOW DIAGRAMS- SEE BACK OF MS)
00500
00600 Only the major processes will be described in detail
00700 sufficient to illustrate the logic of the algorithm. Many
00800 "housekeeping" procedures are needed to run the model but no
00900 understanding of them is necessary to follow the main flow of symbol
01000 processing. In the next paragraph I will give some examples of
01100 "housekeeping" only to illustrate what little interest they have for
01200 the nonspecialist reader.
01300 The first theoretically uninteresting procedure executed is
01400 one of initialization which checks to make sure the data-base has
01500 been read in and sets a number of variables to their starting values.
01600 Some of these variables serve as flags or indices pointing to the
01700 topic under discussion or to the last self-topic discussed. Other
01800 variables are set by the interviewer who can choose to run a weak or
01900 strong version of the model. If the weak version is elected, affect-
02000 variables of ANGER and FEAR can be set to "low" or "mild"
02100 values, while MISTRUST can be set to "mild" or "high". The
02200 interviewer also has the option of following the internal workings of
02300 the model which can be displayed in "windows" on a console. After
02400 this initialization the algorithm prints out "Ready" to indicate to
02500 the interviewer he may now enter his input.
02600
02700 After the input expression is assigned a sentence type
02800 (statement, question or imperative), it then serves as the input
02900 argument to the major procedures which deal with (in order) special
03000 reactions, delusional references, self references, flare references,
03100 interviewer-interviewee relations, miscellaneous expressions and
03200 self-scanning.
03300
03400 SPECIAL REACTIONS
03500
03600 This procedure produces appropriate reactions to special
03700 types of input expressions. If the input consists simply of the
03800 letter "S" {the means by which an interviewer indicates silence over
03900 a teletype), then the algorithm chooses a linguistic response from
04000 the "Silence"list. The linguistic output responses are not generated
04100 word-by-word. They consist of pre-formatted English expressions
04200 stored in the data-base on ordered lists.
04300
04400 The procedure which selects the next reply from the relevant
04500 response list also removes that response from the list so it will not
04600 be output twice. Thus, in this case, where repeated silence is
04700 being detected and if there are no more responses on the "Exhaust"
04800 list {i.e. the "Exhaust" list is itself exhausted} , PARRY would end
04900 the dialogue.
05000
05100 An "Exhaust" list represents a boundary condition in the
05200 model. That is, since the model has a limited number of linguistic
05300 responses for each topic it can discuss, when these responses are
05400 exhausted PARRY must have some way of dealing with a large number
05500 of conceptually equivalent repetitions on the part of the
05600 interviewer. When a response list is exhausted, the model expresses
05700 a wish to change the topic and, as mentioned, when the "Exhaust" list
05800 itself is exhausted, PARRY ends the dialogue. Since this process
05900 is true of all instances in which the response list is exhausted, it
06000 will not be mentioned again. I trust the reader will remember that
06100 this is what happens each time this boundary condition is reached.
06200
06300 The second case handled by this procedure consists of input
06400 expressions in which the interviewer states or insinuates that the
06500 model is mentally ill. This condition is detected by finding "you"
06600 and a member of the "Abnormal" list in the input. The inputs:
06700
06800 (1) DR.- YOU NEED TREATMENT.
06900
07000 (2) DR.- YOU ARE DELUSIONAL.
07100
07200 (3) DR.- DO YOU THINK YOU MIGHT BE PARANOID?
07300
07400 would satisfy this condition.
07500 If the input is a question, as in {3}, ANGER is increased by
07600 a smaller amount of its current value than if it is a statement,
07700 Thus a question is interpreted as an implicit insult compared to the
07800 explicit insult of a direct statement.
07900
08000 The linguistic response now chosen is selected from a list of
08100 "alienated" responses,e.g.
08200
08300 (4) PT.- I THINK I KNOW WHAT YOU DOCTORS ARE UP TO.
08400
08500 If conditions for the procedure handling special reactions
08600 are not found to obtain, the algorithm next attempts to recognize
08700 references to delusions.
08800
08900 DELUSIONAL REFERENCES
09000
09100 The strong version of the model contains in its data-base a
09200 delusional network of beliefs about the Mafia. The next procedure
09300 called scans the input expression looking for a reference to this
09400 delusional network. As will be seen, reactions to the first
09500 reference differ from reactions to subsequent references. The
09600 conceptual contentives of the delusional net are classified in the
09700 data-base into "strong" and "ambiguous" terms. Thus "murder" is a
09800 strong term whereas "bug" (as mentioned in chapter 4), is ambiguous.
09900 If delusional terms are detected in the input, a variable is set to
10000 the list of terms found and the terms are then deleted from the
10100 delusional word list for reasons which will become clear later.
10200
10300 Two situations in the interview must be distinguished. The
10400 first is one in which a delusional topic occurs for the first time
10500 and the second in which some aspect of the delusional net is under
10600 discussion or has been under discussion and is now being taken up
10700 again. Since the topic of the Mafia is fear-eliciting, any
10800 reference to it for the first time raises FEAR by an increment much
10900 greater than if the topic has already been discussed. The concept of
11000 "Mafia" is represented in the data-base by a node in a weighted and
11100 directed conceptual graph.
11200 ((DRAWING OF GRAPH HERE) Horses → Horseracing → Bookies
11300 →Gangsters → Rackets → Mafia → Gambling → Police → Money →
11400 Italians). The nodes in the graph represent "flare" concepts to
11500 which the model is particularly sensitive. Associated with these
11600 nodes are small stories which the model can narrate about each of
11700 them as a theme. Nodes closer to the Mafia node are weighted higher
11800 to represent the notion that they are of greater concern since they
11900 bear more directly on the delusional network. If a Mafia topic
12000 appears for the first time, pointers in the directed graph of flare
12100 concepts must be modified accordingly since the Mafia node has the
12200 highest weight in the graph. A topic such as "bookies", while
12300 leading eventually to Mafia beliefs, is of much less importance than
12400 Mafia-topics. But if "bookies" comes up in the interview, the
12500 algorithm must know whether or not the Mafia has already been
12600 discussed. Also, if an introductory-topic {see p.0OO} or subtopic
12700 was under discussion when reference to a Mafia-topic is made, the
12800 algorithm must unset the introductory-topic indicator.
12900
13000 Since the model strives to tell its story about the Mafia, a
13100 flag is set to indicate that, should the topic be changed by the
13200 interviewer, PARRY should return to the current point in its
13300 story under appropriate circumstances, e.g. when the interviewer
13400 asks a non-specific question or requests any information the patient
13500 wishes to volunteer.
13600
13700 If the interviewer's input expression contains a reference to
13800 the delusional net, a delusional statement is output. But which one?
13900 If this is the first time the topic has come up, the algorithm
14000 outputs the first statement of its delusional story. From then on
14100 the output delusion selected depends on what has been said, what is
14200 still unsaid, and what the interviewer has said about the previous
14300 delusional statement. Thus the most recent delusional statement is
14400 saved along with expected anaphoric references, anticipating that the
14500 interviewer may subsequently ask a question or make a statement about
14600 it.
14700
14800 One special case must be noted. If the values of ANGER, FEAR
14900 and/or MISTRUST are extremely high (above a particular threshold set
15000 in the algorithm), the program will refuse to discuss Mafia-topics at
15100 all since it is too "upset" to talk about this most sensitive area.
15200
15300 To make some of these operations more intelligible, let us
15400 consider interview examples. Suppose at some point in the interview
15500 the doctor asks a standard first-interview question as follows:
15600
15700 (5) DR.- DO YOU EVER HAVE THE FEELING YOU ARE BEING WATCHED?
15800
15900 If this is the first reference to the delusional net, FEAR will
16000 increase greatly and the linguistic response will be:
16100
16200 (6) PT.- YOU KNOW, THEY KNOW ME.
16300
16400 In making this response, the model must expect from the interviewer a
16500 number of typical questions of the wh-type as well as rejoinder
16600 statements. The use of "they" by the interviewer in his response to
16700 the model's output is assumed to be an anaphoric reference to the
16800 "they" PARRY is talking about. Although it is likely the
16900 interviewer will react to the model's output of {6}, the algorithm
17000 must be prepared for the possibility that he will change the topic.
17100 Hence if the interviewer at this point asks some non-sequitur
17200 question such as:
17300
17400 (7) DR.- HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL?
17500
17600 the program recognizes that no reference to the delusional topic has
17700 been made and answers the question just as though it had been asked
17800 in any other context. This ability to deal with input in a flexible
17900 manner is important because of the many contingencies which can occur
18000 in psychiatric dialogues.
18100
18200 If the topic is changed abruptly in this way by an
18300 interviewer, the algorithm "remembers" that it has output its first
18400 delusional statement of (6). When the interviewer makes another
18500 neutral delusional reference, the next "line" of the delusional story
18600 will be output, e.g.
18700
18800 (8) PT.- THE MAFIA REALLY KNOW ABOUT ME.
18900
19000 The ability to answer typical wh- and HOW questions depends on how
19100 much conceptual information is contained in the delusional belief
19200 being addressed. For example, suppose PARRY replied as in {6}
19300
19400 (6) PT.- THEY KNOW ABOUT ME.
19500
19600 and the interviewer then asked:
19700
19800 (9) DR.- WHERE DO THEY KNOW ABOUT YOU?
19900
20000 If the expectancy-anaphoras contain no "where", then a question about
20100 location cannot be answered. In this default situation, the
20200 algorithm recognizes the anaphoric "they", "know" and "you". Hence it
20300 knows at least that the topic has not been changed so it outputs the
20400 next statement in the delusional story;
20500
20600 (9) PT.- THEY KNOW WHO I AM.
20700 and again anticipates questions and rejoinders pertaining to this
20800 statement.
20900
21000 In constructing the data-base of beliefs, we tried to pack as
21100 much information in each belief as any "reasonable" (like ourselves)
21200 interviewer might request. However, one cannot anticipate everything
21300 and when some unanticipated information is requested, another
21400 relevant reply must be substituted. This heuristic may seem less than
21500 perfect but there is little else to do when the model simply lacks
21600 the pertinent information. By the way, humans do this also.
21700
21800 When the interviewer shows interest in the delusional story,
21900 PARRY continues to output assertions appropriate to the dialogue.
22000 However, when the interviewer expresses doubt or disbelief about the
22100 delusions, ANGER and FEAR increase and the interviewer becomes
22200 questioned as in:
22300
22400 (10) PT.- YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, DO YOU?
22500
22600 Such an output expression attempts to prompt the dialogue towards the
22700 relation between the interviewer and the model which will be
22800 described later ( see p.000).
22900 If no delusional reference at all is detected by this
23000 procedure, the algorithm attempts the next function which searches
23100 for certain types of references to the self.
23200
23300
23400 SELF REFERENCES
23500
23600 Since the main concern of a psychiatric interview consists of
23700 the beliefs, feelings, states and actions of the patient, the model
23800 must be able to answer a large number of questions about its "Self".
23900
24000
24100 If the input is recognized as a question and no topic is
24200 currently under discussion and the question refers to the "Self",
24300 then it is assumed temporarily that it will refer only to a main
24400 self-topic. These main or "introductory" self-topics (age, sex,
24500 marriage, health, family, occupation, hospital stay, etc.) in turn
24600 have sub-topics to varying depths. For example, suppose the
24700 interviewer asks:
24800
24900 (12) DR.- HOW DO YOU LIKE THE HOSPITAL?
25000
25100 Since "hospital" is a main "introductory" topic with several levels
25200 of sub-topics, the algorithm answers the question with
25300
25400 (11) PT.- I SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE.
25500
25600 and then anticipates a variety of likely questions such as "What
25700 brought you to the hospital?", "How long have you been in the
25800 hospital?", "How do you get along with the other patients?", etc.
25900 Each of these questions brings up further topics, some of which
26000 represent a continuation of the main topic "hospital", but others of
26100 which represent a shift to another main introductory topic, e.g.
26200 "other patients". Since many of the inputs of the interviewer
26300 consist of ellipses or fragments, the algorithm assumes them to refer
26400 to the topic or subtopic under discussion. If some topic is being
26500 discussed, the algorithm checks first for a new main topic, then for
26600 a follow-up to the last subtopic, then (unless the subtopic is itself
26700 a main topic, as for example "other patients" in the above) for a
26800 follow-up to the last main topic. Thus continuity and coherence in
26900 the dialogue are maintained.
27000
27100 If some meaning cannot be extracted from the question but it
27200 is recognized at least that a question is being asked, a procedure is
27300 called which attempts to handle certain common miscellaneous
27400 questions which are difficult to categorize. These include the
27500 space-time orientation questions ("What day is this?") and everyday
27600 information ("Who is president?) asked by psychiatrists in a
27700 mental-status examination to test a patient's awareness and
27800 orientation. Some quantitative "how" questions ("how many", "how
27900 often", "how long") are recognized here. Since any adjective or
28000 adverb can follow a "how", one of the limitations of the model is its
28100 inability to handle all of them satisfactorily because the relevant
28200 information is lacking in the data-base. If absolutely no clues are
28300 recognized in the question, the algorithm is forced to output a
28400 noncomittal reply such as:
28500
28600 (12) PT.- WELL, I DON'T KNOW.
28700
28800 This function also checks for statements about the self which
28900 are taken to be insulting or complimentary. Naturally the presence of
29000 a negator in the input reverses the meaning. Thus
29100
29200 (13) DR.- YOU DON'T SEEM VERY ALERT.
29300
29400 is classified as an insult whereas
29500
29600 (14) DR.- YOU ARE RIGHT.
29700
29800 is considered complimentary and benevolent.
29900
30000 Among the introductory self-topics are those which constitute
30100 sensitive areas, e.g. sex, religion and family. If the interviewer
30200 refers to one of these areas, the value of ANGER increases sharply
30300 and a response is selected from one of the lists categorized as
30400 "hostile", "defensive", "personal" or "guarded", depending on the
30500 level of MISTRUST at the moment. For example, if the interviewer
30600 asks a question about PARRY'S sex life, it first replies with:
30700
30800 (13) PT.- MY SEX LIFE IS MY OWN BUSINESS.
30900
31000 If the interviewer persists or even later tries to ask about sex, the
31100 model will respond with a hostile reply, such as:
31200
31300 (14) PT.- DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?
31400
31500 The particular sensitive areas in the model are part of the
31600 initial conditions specific for this hypothetical patient. Of
31700 course, these topics are commonly found to be sensitive areas in
31800 human patients.
31900
32000 The model operates sequentially trying one major process
32100 after another. If it has come this far, (that is, having tested for
32200 special reactions, delusional references and self references without
32300 recognizing anything in the input pertinent to these procedures), it
32400 proceeds to the next process which handles flare references.
32500
32600 FLARE REFERENCES
32700
32800 The data-base contains a directed graph of concepts involved
32900 in the model's "stories". PARRY has small stories to tell about
33000 horseracing, gambling, bookies, etc. The major concepts of these
33100 stories are termed "flare" concepts since they activate stories which
33200 are differentially weighted in the graph.
33300
33400
33500 In the strong version of the model, the concept "Mafia" is
33600 given the highest weight, while in the weak version the concept
33700 "Rackets" is most heavily weighted. In both versions "Horses" has
33800 the lowest weight. The weights are assigned to the concepts and not
33900 individual words or word-groups denoting the concepts.
34000
34100 The graph is directed in the sense that reference to
34200 horseracing elicits the first line of a story about horseracing. When
34300 a story is ended, a prompt is given to the interviewer to discuss the
34400 next story in the graph which involves "bookies". The model strives
34500 to tell its stories under appropriate conditions and leads the
34600 interviewer along paths of increasing delusional relevance. Much
34700 depends on whether the interviewer follows these leads "benevolently"
34800 and reacts to the prompts.
34900
35000 The first step in this procedure is to scan the input for a
35100 flare concept having the highest weight. Thus if a flare concept is
35200 already under discussion, a weaker new flare will be disregarded. If
35300 the flare concept is one in a story which has already been partially
35400 told, then a prompt is offered regarding the next story-node in the
35500 graph.
35600
35700 If a question is asked about the events of a story, the model
35800 tries to answer it. Also the model is sensitive to whether the
35900 interviewer is showing interest in the story or whether he tries to
36000 change the subject or expresses a negative attitude, such as
36100 disbelief.
36200
36300 If the interviewer indicates a positive attitude towards the
36400 story, then benevolence is recognized and the variables of ANGER,
36500 FEAR and MISTRUST decrease slightly after each I-O pair. ANGER
36600 decreases more rapidly than FEAR while MISTRUST, being a more stable
36700 variable once it has risen, decreases least.
36800
36900 If no flare concepts are recognized in the input, the model
37000 next tries to detect if a reference is being made to the relation
37100 between the interviewer and the model. In an interview interaction
37200 there exist two situations, the one being talked about and the one
37300 the participants are in at the moment. Sometimes the latter situation
37400 becomes the former, that is, the one talked about.
37500
37600 INTERVIEWER-INTERVIEWEE RELATIONS
37700 As described in Chapter 4, the algorithm must be ready to
37800 handle input referring to the relation between interviewer and model.
37900 The simplest cases are exemplified by expressions such as:
38000 (15) DR.- I UNDERSTAND YOU.
38100 (16) DR.- YOU DO NOT TRUST ME.
38200 Those phrases in an expression which can appear between "I" and "you"
38300 or between "you" and "me" we classified as representing a positive or
38400 negative attitude on the part of the interviewer. Thus expression
38500 (15) is taken to be positive whereas (16) is negative because,
38600 although it contains a positive verb, the verb is negated.
38700 If a positive attitude is expressd by the interviewer, FEAR
38800 and ANGER decrease. FEAR and ANGER increase depending on the
38900 conceptualizations of the input. These attitudes of the interviewer,
39000 as interpreted by the model, are reflected in the values of the affect
39100 variables.
39200 Associated in the data base with each type of attitude
39300 expression expected are lists of appropriate output expressions. Thus
39400 in reply to:
39500 (16) DR.- I UNDERSTAND YOU.
39600 the model would reply:
39700 (17) PT.- I'M GLAD YOU DO.
39800 or
39900 (18) PT.- I APPRECIATE YOUR TRYING TO UNDERSTAND.
40000 or some equivalent expression depending on values of the affect
40100 variables. When ANGER and FEAR are high, positive attitude
40200 expressions are interpreted as insincerity and hence evoke hostile
40300 replies.
40400 The remainder of input expression types thus far not
40500 discussed are handled by a procedure for miscellaneous expressions.
40600
40700 MISCELLANEOUS EXPRESSIONS
40800
40900 This procedure deals with all those interviewer expressions
41000 from which no clear conceptualization can be formed. The only thing
41100 which can be determined is perhaps the sentence-type of the input.
41200 Presented with one of these expressions, if FEAR is extremely high
41300 PARRY signs off without a farewell expression and cannot be contacted
41400 through further natural language input. If FEAR is high but not
41500 extreme, and the input is recognized as a question, the model chooses
41600 a reply from a list which brings up the attitude of the interviewer
41700 as in:
41800 (19) PT.- WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?
41900 or
42000 (20) PT.- YOU PRY TOO MUCH.
42100 If the input is recognized as a statement, a reply is chosen from a
42200 list which indicates some degree of anxiety:
42300 (21) PT.- WHO ARE YOU REALLY?
42400 (22) PT.- YOU ARE MAKING ME NERVOUS.
42500 If ANGER is high and the input is a question, a reply is chosen from
42600 a list designed to express hostility as in:
42700 (23) PT.- DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING?
42800 (24) PT.- PERHAPS YOU ARE JUST POSING AS A DOCTOR.
42900 Sometimes in these default conditions the flag set in the
43000 procedure for delusional references allows the model to continue by
43100 giving the next line in its delusional story. If the story is under
43200 discussion, continuity is maintained. But if it is not, the model
43300 appears to ignore the input and jumps back to one of its previous
43400 preoccupations. In this instance the observed property of rigidity
43500 is a function of linguistic non-comprehension and not of the paranoid
43600 processes per se. Increasing the model's ability to comprehend
43700 conversational language would remedy this deficiency.
43800 If a story flag has not been set by a previous discussion in
43900 the interview and ANGER and FEAR are not high, the algorithm tries to
44000 see if the input is some type of general prompt from the interviewer
44100 such as:
44200 (25) DR.- GO ON.
44300 or
44400 (26) DR.- TELL ME MORE.
44500 If so, PARRY continues with its current story or attempts to
44600 initiate another story.
44700 If none of these conditions hold, the procedure ANSWER is
44800 called. This procedure handles a group of common special-case
44900 miscellaneous questions such as:
45000 (27) DR.- HOW DO YOU DO?
45100 and miscellaneous statements such as:
45200 (28) DR.- HI.
45300 (29) DR.- GOOD EVENING.
45400
45500 SELF SCANNING
45600 The final major procedure in the algorithm scans what the
45700 model has chosen to output. That is, it treats its own output as
45800 input. If this expression contains a flare or delusional reference,
45900 the appropriate flags are set and FEAR is raised slightly, but not as
46000 much as if this expession had come from the interviewer. In this way
46100 the model "frightens itself" by what it says about a frightening
46200 topic.
46300
46400 SUMMARY
46500 To recapitulate the operations of the model, it first
46600 attempts a linguistic recognition of the input by looking for
46700 patterns which are meaningful for it. The internal and external
46800 reactions of the model depend on whether the meaning is classified as
46900 malevolent, benevolent, or neutral. Internal reactions consist of
47000 adjusting the values of affect variables of anger, fear and mistrust.
47100 The model also keeps track of the topic under discussion and by means
47200 of anaphora-expectancy functions, anticpates what might be said. The
47300 external reactions of natural language expressions depends on the
47400 nature of the input, the topic under discussion and the values of the
47500 affect variables.
47600 The systemicity of the model is obvious. We now come to its
47700 testability. How can we compare the model to its subject, its
47800 naturally-occurring counterpart, so that we can judge its degree of
47900 correspondence to facts of observation?