What is Script Theory?
Roger Schank and Robert Abelson introduced script theory to explain how humans comprehend, remember, and predict events. They posited that human memory is structured around scripts, which are mental representations of common sequences of activities. This theory has been adapted in AI to allow machines to process and act on information like human cognition.
Key Components of Script Theory
Scripts are composed of several key components:
- Scenes: The basic units of a script, detailing specific actions or events.
- Actors: The entities (e.g., people, robots) performing actions within the scenes.
- Props: Objects involved in the actions.
- Entry Conditions: Preconditions that must be met for a script to initiate.
- Results: The outcomes or goals achieved by completing the script.
For example, a restaurant script might include scenes such as “entering the restaurant,” “ordering food,” “eating,” and “paying the bill.” Actors could be the customer and the waiter, props might include menus and food items, entry conditions could be the customer being hungry, and results would be the customer being satisfied after eating.
Script Theory in Artificial Intelligence
Script theory in Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a concept borrowed from cognitive psychology to help machines understand and predict human behavior by modeling sequences of events as predefined scripts. Originally proposed by cognitive scientist Roger Schank in the 1970s, script theory provides a framework for representing stereotypical sequences of actions in specific contexts, enabling AI systems to simulate human-like understanding and interaction.
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