We have gradually come to realize that one of the best ways to understand the complexities of mental processes is to find their origins in infancy and trace them as they develop over time.
- Jean M. Mandler
I pursue the quesiton of how linguistic meaning develops. In my approach, I consider the language acquisition process to be supported by both, intra and interpersonal factors. While nonverbal modalities like gesture belong to the intrapersonal factors, the guidance and assistance of parents is an environmental, and thus, interpersonal factor.
I am interested in the organisation of mind, especially in preverbal and early lexical children. By virtue of what kind of processes can their experience be turned into symbolic meaning? I claim that early use of language is situated, and semantics of communicational acts can be observed in different modalities very early in the development because it is supported by environmental cues. Children can capitalize on this low-level form of meaning developing abstract and more complex ones.
Within a longitudinal study, we investigate how children are supported in learning how to "read" books..
With my colleagues from Applied Informatics Group, Hybrid Society Group and Sociable Agents Group, we are working on multimodal influences on memory processes, which will be implemented on artificial systems in order to allow for more intuive communication with them.
Since 1995 I am a trainer in Rhetoric, Communication and Speech. I also develop seminars about learning processes to inform adults about new research in cognitive science.
Wrede, B., Kopp, S., Rohlfing, K. J., Lohse, M. & Muhl, C. (to appear): Appropriate feedback in asymmetric interactions. Journal of Pragmatics.
Nagai, Y. & Rohlfing, K. J.(to appear): Computational Analysis of Motionese toward Scaffolding Robot Action Learning. IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development.
McGregor, K. K., Rohlfing, K. J., Bean, A. & Marschner, E. (to appear): Gesture as a support for slow mapping: The case of under. Journal of Child Language.
Booth, A.E., McGregor, K.K. & Rohlfing, K. J. (2008): Socio-pragmatics and attention: Contributions to gesturally guided word learning in toddlers. Journal of Language Learning and Development 4: 179-202.
Rohlfing, K.J. (2006): Facilitating the acquisition of UNDER by means of IN and ON - a training study in Polish. In: Journal of Child Language 33: 51-69.
Rohlfing, K. / Loehr, D. / Duncan, S. / Brown, A. / Franklin, A. / Kimbara, I. / Milde, J.-T. / Parrill, F. / Rose, T. / Schmidt, T. / Sloetjes, H. / Thies, A. / Wellinghoff, S. (2006): Comparison of multimodal annotation tools: Workshop report. In: GesprŠchsforschung 7.
Rohlfing, K.J., Fritsch, J., Wrede, B. & Jungmann, T. (2006): How can multimodal cues from child-directed interaction reduce learning complexity in robots. Advanced Robotics 20: 1183-1199.
Rohlfing, K.J. (2005): Learning prepositions. In: Perspectives on Language Learning and Education 12: 13-17.
Rohlfing, K.J. / Rehm, M. / Goecke, K. U. (2003): Situatedness: The Interplay between Context(s) and Situation. In: Journal of Cognition and Culture 3 (2): 132-157.
Rohlfing, K. J. (to appear): Meaning in the objects. In: J. Meibauer & M. Steinbach (eds.): Experimental Pragmatics/Semantics. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Wrede, B., Rohlfing, K. J., Hanheide, M. & Sagerer, G. (2009): Towards Learning by Interacting. In: Sendhoff, B. et al. (eds.): Creating Brain-Like Intelligence. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 5436. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag: 139-150.
Rohlfing, K. J. (2008): Language acquisition — a multimodal avenue. In: Gramley, V. (ed.): The Bielefeld Introduction to Applied Linguistics.
Choi, S. & Rohlfing, K. J. (2008): Discourse and lexical patterns in mothers' speech during spatial tasks: What role do spatial words play? In: Japanese/Korean Linguistics 17.
Rohlfing, K. J. (2008): Cognitive Foundations. In: Rickheit, G. & Strohner, H. (eds.): Handbook of Applied Linguistics, Volumne 1: Communicative competence of the individual. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter: 103-124.
Rohlfing, K.J. (2005): Zwischen Vielfalt und Vertiefung. Zum Unterhaltungswert von Trainings in der Wirtschaft. In: Antos, G. und Wichter, S. (eds.): Transferqualität. Bedingungen und Voraussetzungen für Effektivität, Effizienz, Erfolg des Wissenstransfers. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang (=Transferwissenschaften), 169-176.
Rohlfing, K.J. (2003): Situierte Semantik. Die Rolle der Sprache und nicht-verbaler Strategien beim Erwerb räumlicher Relationen. In: Haberzettl, S. & Wegener, H. (eds.): Spracherwerb und Konzeptualisierung. Peter Lang: 35-48.
Rohlfing, K.J. (2002): Wissenschaft verständlicher. Ein Seminarkonzept und Praxisbericht. In: Strohner, H. & Brose, R. (eds.): Kommunikationsoptimierung. Stauffenburg Verlag.
Rohlfing, K. J. (2001): No preposition required. The role of prepositions for the understanding of spatial relations in language acquisition. In: Pütz, M., Niemeier, S. & Dirven, R. (eds.): Applied cognitive linguistics I: theory and language acquisition. Mouton de Gruyter: 229-247.
Rolf, M., Hanheide, M. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2009): The use of synchrony in parent-child interaction can be measured on a signal level. Poster to be presented at the Meeting of the Society of Research in Child Development, Denver USA, 2. – 4. April.
Rohlfing, K.J., Poblete Salas, J. & Grimminger, A. (2009): Getting you to understand. How mothers gesture when instructing to put two objects together. Poster to be presented at the Meeting of the Society of Research in Child Development, Denver USA, 2. – 4. April.
Poblete Salas, J. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2008): Manipulative gestures or actions? Paper presented at the 12. Internationale Kongreß der Deutsche Gesellschaft für Semantik, Stuttgart 9. – 12. October.
Nagai, Y. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2008): Parental action modi?cation highlighting the goal versus the means. In: Proceedings of the IEEE 7th International Conference on Development and Learning, August (ICDL '08).
Nagai, Y. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2008): Computational analysis of motionese: What can infants learn from parental actions? Poster presented at the 16th Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS 2008), Vancouver 27. – 29. March.
Rohlfing, K.J. (2008): Meaning in the objects? Paper presented at the 30. Jahrestagung der DGfS, Bamberg, 26. – 29. Februar.
Nagai, Y. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2007): Parental signal indicating significant state change in action demonstration. In: Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Epigenetic Robotics (EpiRob'07): 205-206.
Rohlfing, K.J. & Kopp, S. (2007): Meaning in the timing? The emergence of pointing patterns. In: Proceedings of the Symposium on Language and Robots, Aveiro, Portugal, 10. – 12. December: 79-82.
Lohse, M., Hegel, F., Swadzba, A., Rohlfing, K., Wachsmuth, S. & Wrede, B. (2007): What can I do for you? Appearance and Application of Robots. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts (AISB 2007). Newcastle, 2.– 5. April: 121-126.
Nagai, Y. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2007): Can Motionese Tell Infants and Robots “What to Imitate”? In: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts (AISB 2007). Newcastle, 2.– 5. April: 299-306.
Rohlfing, K.J. & Choi, S. (2007): When spatial words matter. Paper presented at the 10th International Conference for Cognitive Linguistics (ICLC 2007), Kraków, Poland, 16. – 20. Juli.
Rohlfing, K.J. & Kopp, S. (2007): The emergence of pointing patterns. Paper presented at the 3d International Conference of the International Society for Gesture Studies, Evanston, USA, 18. – 21. Juni.
Bean, A., McGregor, K.K. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2007): Gesture facilitates toddlers’ refinement of spatial term. Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorder, Madison, Wisconsin USA, 7.– 9. Juni.
Nagai, Y. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2007): Can Motionese Tell Infants and Robots “What to Imitate”? In: Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium Symposium on Imitation in Animals and Artifacts (AISB 2007). Newcastle, 2.– 5. April: 299-306.
Bertenthal, B.I. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2007): Following the point of a hand but not a stick. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Society of Research in Child Development, Boston USA, 28. März – 9. April.
Muhl, C., Wrede, B., Rohlfing, K.J. (2006): Factors influencing feedback. In: Proceedings of the Workshop on How people talk to computers, robots, and other artificial communication partners. Delmenhorst, 21 - 23 April.
Choi, S. & Rohlfing, K.J. (2006): Mothers' input during spatial tasks: A crosslinguistic study in English and Korean. Poster to present at the ISIS, 19 - 23 June, Kyoto.
Rohlfing, K.J. & Bauckhage, C. (2003): Experimentelle Evaluation des situierten Kommunikators - eine Pilotstudie. In: Report 2003/2 SFB 360, Universität Bielefeld.
Rohlfing, K. J. (2002): UNDERstanding. How infants acquire the meaning of UNDER and other spatial relational terms. Dissertation. Retrieved July, 2004 from Bielefeld University, URL: http://bieson.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/volltexte/2002/80/
10.4.2009