Semantic commitments as a mode of non-programmable computation in the brain

Abstract

The natural language processor in the brain can cope with non-programmable computation. The average number of different lexical meanings per word serves as a quantitative figure in terms of which the extent of being non-programmable can be evaluated. The possible maximum average number of different lexical meanings per word that the brain of the subject reading the text can cope with while comprehending the context is found to be 3.3 with its standard deviation 0.15, beyond which the brain can no more succeed in comprehending the context. In contrast, the maximum average number of different lexical meanings per word that would make lexical disambiguation programmable is e = 2.718. Natural language processing in the brain is non-programmable in the sense that the manageable average number of different meanings per word is greater than e, but does not exceed roughly 3.3.