Anchoring of semiotic symbols

This paper presents arguments for approaching the anchoring problem using semiotic symbols. Semiotic symbols are defined by a triadic relation between forms, meanings and referents, thus having an implicit relation to the real world. Anchors are formed between these three elements rather than between 'traditional' symbols and sensory images. This allows an optimization between the form (i.e. the 'traditional' symbol) and the referent. A robotic experiment based on adaptive language games illustrates how the anchoring of semiotic symbols can be achieved in a bottom-up fashion. The paper concludes that applying semiotic symbols is a potentially valuable approach toward anchoring. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.