...bindings/instantiations
I will use the terms bindings and instantiations interchangeably.

...22
In fact we could have given the query bird(X) and it wouldn't have made any difference. Prolog renames variables so that variables in different clauses are different. Its only locally, within a clause, that the same variable must be instantiated to the same object.

...procedure
We will use the term procedure to refer to the collection of clauses for a given predicate.

...need
Actually Prolog list structures are normally represented internally as special functor/argument structures (though Mac Prolog is odd in this respect - it does things back to front and represents functor/argument structures as lists!). On most Prologs display([1,2,3]) will show you how lists are internally represented.

...objects
Not to be equated with structured objects in Prolog!

...solution
These will actually have a lower estimated cost to solution, so the term local maxima may be confusing.

...language
Though in general natural language work involves both understanding language and generating language.

...problem
While computer language grammars can be (re)written in such a way to avoid the need for search in the parsing process, natural languages cannot. So the parsers are often a bit more complex.

...psychophysics
Neurophysiologists are the guys who stick probes in peoples (and rats) brains to work out how they are connected. Psychophysicists are interested in the relation between the brain and phsyical and perceptual abilities, and (for example) get people to look at lots of random dot stereograms to see whether they can perceive shapes.

alison@
Fri Aug 19 10:42:17 BST 1994