Tessa Verhoef
Papers
1
Total Citations
2
H-Index
1
About
Tessa Verhoef is a leading researcher at the intersection of cognitive science, linguistics, and artificial intelligence, whose work explores how language emerges, evolves, and can be grounded in interaction. Her key research areas include the evolution of language, human-machine communication, and the emergence of shared vocabularies. Verhoef’s major contribution lies in experimentally investigating how novel communication systems arise—both between humans and between humans and machines—drawing on principles from iterated learning and cultural evolution. Her notable 2022 paper, "Emerging Grounded Shared Vocabularies Between Human and Machine, Inspired by Human Language Evolution," exemplifies this approach, proposing that AI can develop more natural, grounded language by mimicking the evolutionary processes that shaped human communication. Though her citation counts are still growing, her work is highly influential in shaping how we think about building conversational AI that does not simply rely on massive data, but on interactive, adaptive learning. Verhoef’s research has been recognized for its interdisciplinary impact, bridging linguistics, cognitive science, and AI, and she is a key voice in the movement toward more human-like, evolutionarily inspired artificial language systems.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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