Kayo Yin, Terry Regier, and Dan Klein (2024). American Sign Language handshapes reflect pressures for communicative efficiency. Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers), 15715–15724.

Terry Regier and Muhammad Ali Khalidi (2024). Palestine and the Western “street.” Security in Context, Policy Paper 24-06. [PDF]

Zheng Wei Lim, Harry Stuart, Simon De Deyne, Terry Regier, Ekaterina Vylomova, Trevor Cohn, and Charles Kemp (2024). A computational approach to identifying cultural keywords across languages. Cognitive Science, 48, e13402.

Gunjan Anand and Terry Regier (2023). Kinship terminologies reflect culture-specific communicative need: Evidence from Hindi and English. In Proceedings of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Emil Carlsson, Devdatt Dubhashi, and Terry Regier (2023). Iterated learning and communication jointly explain efficient color naming systems. In Proceedings of the 45th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. [Preprint]

Joseph L. Hardy, John S. Werner, Terry Regier, Paul Kay and Christina M. Frederick (2023). Sunlight exposure cannot explain “grue” languages. Scientific Reports, 13, 1836.

Shan Gao and Terry Regier (2022). Culture, communicative need, and the efficiency of semantic categories. In Proceedings of the 44th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Noga Zaslavsky, Karee Garvin, Charles Kemp, Naftali Tishby, and Terry Regier (2022). The evolution of color naming reflects pressure for efficiency: Evidence from the recent past. Journal of Language Evolution. [Preprint PDF] [An abstract describing this work appeared in the Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2020).]

Francis Mollica, Geoff Bacon, Noga Zaslavsky, Yang Xu, Terry Regier, and Charles Kemp (2021). The forms and meanings of grammatical markers support efficient communication. PNAS, 118, e2025993118. [Preprint] [Supplementary information] [An earlier version of this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2020).]

Yang Xu, Emmy Liu, and Terry Regier (2020). Numeral systems across languages support efficient communication: From approximate numerosity to recursion. Open Mind, 4, 57-70. [Supplementary materials.] [An earlier version of this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2014).]

Noga Zaslavsky, Terry Regier, Naftali Tishby, and Charles Kemp (2019). Semantic categories of artifacts and animals reflect efficient coding. In Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. [An abstract of this paper also appeared in the 2020 Proceedings of the Society for Computation in Linguistics, Vol. 3 , Article 61.]

Noah Hermalin and Terry Regier (2019). Efficient use of ambiguity in an early writing system: Evidence from Sumerian cuneiform. In Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Charles Kemp, Alice Gaby, and Terry Regier (2019). Season naming and the local environment. In Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Alexandra Carstensen, George Kachergis, Noah Hermalin, and Terry Regier (2019). “Natural concepts” revisited in the spatial-topological domain: Universal tendencies in focal spatial relations. In Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Noga Zaslavsky, Charles Kemp, Naftali Tishby, and Terry Regier (2019). Communicative need in color naming. Cognitive Neuropsychology.

Noga Zaslavsky, Charles Kemp, Naftali Tishby, and Terry Regier (2019). Color naming reflects both perceptual structure and communicative need. Topics in Cognitive Science, 11, 207–219. [An earlier version of this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the 40th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2018) and received the conference prize for best paper on computational modeling of language.]

Noga Zaslavsky, Charles Kemp, Terry Regier, and Naftali Tishby (2018). Efficient compression in color naming and its evolution. PNAS, 115, 7937-7942. [Movie.] [An earlier version of this work was presented at the Workshop on Cognitively Informed Artificial Intelligence at the 31st Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS 2017).]

Charles Kemp, Yang Xu, and Terry Regier (2018). Semantic typology and efficient communication. Annual Review of Linguistics, 4, 109-128. [Preprint]

Terry Regier and Yang Xu (2017). The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and inference under uncertainty. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 8:e1440. [Preprint]

Kevin J. Holmes, Kelsey Moty, and Terry Regier (2017). Revisiting the role of language in spatial cognition: Categorical perception of spatial relations in English and Korean speakers. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 24, 2031-2036.

Kevin J. Holmes and Terry Regier (2017). Categorical perception beyond the basic level: The case of warm and cool colors. Cognitive Science, 41, 1135-1147.

Yang Xu, Terry Regier, and Nora S. Newcombe (2017). An adaptive cue combination model of human spatial reorientation. Cognition, 163, 56-66.

Yang Xu, Terry Regier, and Barbara C. Malt (2016). Historical semantic chaining and efficient communication: The case of container names. Cognitive Science, 40, 2081-2094. [Supplementary material] [An earlier version of this paper appeared in the Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2015) and received the conference prize for best paper on computational modeling of language.]

Joshua T. Abbott, Thomas L. Griffiths, and Terry Regier (2016). Focal colors across languages are representative members of color categories. PNAS, 113, 11178-11183. [Supplementary information]

Emily Cibelli, Yang Xu, Joseph L. Austerweil, Thomas L. Griffiths, and Terry Regier (2016). The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and probabilistic inference: Evidence from the domain of color. PLOS ONE 11(7): e0158725. [Preprint] [An abstract describing this work appeared in the Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (2016).]

Christine Tseng, Alexandra Carstensen, Terry Regier, and Yang Xu (2016). A computational investigation of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: The case of spatial relations. In Proceedings of the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier, Alexandra Carstensen, and Charles Kemp (2016). Languages support efficient communication about the environment: Words for snow revisited. PLOS ONE 11(4): e0151138.

Terry Regier (2016). Perceptions of Palestine: The view from large linguistic datasets. Journal of Palestine Studies, XLV, 41-54.

Alexandra Carstensen, Jing Xu, Cameron T. Smith, and Terry Regier (2015). Language evolution in the lab tends toward informative communication. In Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Yang Xu, Terry Regier, and Nora Newcombe (2015). An adaptive cue combination model of spatial reorientation. In Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Yang Xu and Charles Kemp (2015). A computational evaluation of two laws of semantic change. In Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier, Charles Kemp, and Paul Kay (2015). Word meanings across languages support efficient communication. In B. MacWhinney & W. O'Grady (Eds.), The handbook of language emergence (pp. 237-263). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

Alexandra Carstensen, Elizabeth Kon, and Terry Regier (2014). Testing a rational account of pragmatic reasoning: The case of spatial language. In P. Bello et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Naveen Khetarpal, Grace Neveu, Asifa Majid, Lev Michael, and Terry Regier (2013). Spatial terms across languages support near-optimal communication: Evidence from Peruvian Amazonia, and computational analyses. In M. Knauff, M. Pauen, N. Sebanz, and I. Wachsmuth (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Alexandra Carstensen and Terry Regier (2013). Individuals recapitulate the proposed evolutionary development of spatial lexicons. In M. Knauff, M. Pauen, N. Sebanz, and I. Wachsmuth (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier, Naveen Khetarpal, and Asifa Majid (2013). Inferring semantic maps. Linguistic Typology, 17, 89-105. [Preprint] [Supplementary material] [Abstract from 2011 Cognitive Science conference]

Charles Kemp and Terry Regier (2012). Kinship categories across languages reflect general communicative principles. Science, 336, 1049-1054. [Preprint] [Commentary by S. Levinson] [Supplementary material] [Project page] [FAQ]

Joshua T. Abbott, Terry Regier, and Thomas L. Griffiths (2012). Predicting focal colors with a rational model of representativeness. In N. Miyake, D. Peebles, and R. P. Cooper (Eds.), Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Amy Perfors, Joshua Tenenbaum, and Terry Regier (2011). The learnability of abstract syntactic principles. Cognition, 118, 306-338.

Naveen Khetarpal, Asifa Majid, Barbara Malt, Steven Sloman, and Terry Regier (2010). Similarity judgments reflect both language and cross-language tendencies: Evidence from two semantic domains. In S. Ohlsson and R. Catrambone (Eds.), Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier, Paul Kay, Aubrey Gilbert, and Richard Ivry (2010). Language and thought: Which side are you on, anyway? In B. Malt and P. Wolff (Eds.), Words and the Mind: How Words Capture Human Experience (pp. 165-182). New York: Oxford University Press.

Terry Regier and Paul Kay (2009). Language, thought, and color: Whorf was half right. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13, 439-446.

Naveen Khetarpal, Asifa Majid, and Terry Regier (2009). Spatial terms reflect near-optimal spatial categories. In N. Taatgen et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier and Muhammad Ali Khalidi (2009). The Arab street: Tracking a political metaphor. Middle East Journal, 63, 11-29.

Terry Regier, Paul Kay, and Naveen Khetarpal (2009). Color naming and the shape of color space. Language, 85, 884-892.

Stephani Foraker, Terry Regier, Naveen Khetarpal, Amy Perfors, and Joshua Tenenbaum (2009). Indirect evidence and the poverty of the stimulus: The case of anaphoric one. Cognitive Science, 33, 287-300. [Earlier version from 2007 Cognitive Science conference is here.]

A. Franklin, G. V. Drivonikou, A. Clifford, P. Kay, T. Regier, and I. R. L. Davies (2008). Lateralization of categorical perception of color changes with color term acquisition. PNAS, 105, 18221-18225.

Aubrey Gilbert, Terry Regier, Paul Kay, and Richard Ivry (2008). Support for lateralization of the Whorf effect beyond the realm of color discrimination. Brain and Language, 105, 91-98.

A. Franklin, G. V. Drivonikou, L. Bevis, I. R. L. Davies, P. Kay, and T. Regier (2008). Categorical perception of color is lateralized to the right hemisphere in infants, but to the left hemisphere in adults. PNAS, 105, 3221-3225.

Terry Regier and Mingyu Zheng (2007). Attention to endpoints: A cross-linguistic constraint on spatial meaning. Cognitive Science, 31, 705-719.

G. V. Drivonikou, P. Kay, T. Regier, R. B. Ivry, A. L. Gilbert, A. Franklin, and I. R. L. Davies (2007). Further evidence that Whorfian effects are stronger in the right visual field than the left. PNAS, 104, 1097-1102.

Terry Regier, Paul Kay, and Naveen Khetarpal (2007). Color naming is near optimal [Abstract]. In D. S. McNamara and J. G. Trafton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier, Paul Kay, and Naveen Khetarpal (2007). Color naming reflects optimal partitions of color space. PNAS, 104, 1436-1441.

Paul Kay and Terry Regier (2007). Color naming universals: The case of Berinmo. Cognition, 102, 289-298.

Aubrey Gilbert, Terry Regier, Paul Kay, and Richard Ivry (2006). Whorf hypothesis is supported in the right visual field but not the left. PNAS, 103, 489-494.

Paul Kay and Terry Regier (2006). Language, thought, and color: Recent developments. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 10(2), 51-54.

Amy Perfors, Joshua Tenenbaum, and Terry Regier (2006). Poverty of the stimulus? A rational approach. In R. Sun and N. Miyake (Eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier (2005). The emergence of words: Attentional learning in form and meaning. Cognitive Science 29, 819-865.

Terry Regier, Paul Kay, and Richard S. Cook (2005). Universal foci and varying boundaries in linguistic color categories. In B. G. Bara, L. Barsalou and M. Bucciarelli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Richard S. Cook, Paul Kay, and Terry Regier (2005). The World Color Survey database: History and use. In H. Cohen and C. Lefebvre (Eds.), Handbook of Categorization in Cognitive Science (pp. 223-242). Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Terry Regier, Paul Kay, and Richard S. Cook (2005). Focal colors are universal after all. PNAS, 102, 8386-8391.

Terry Regier and Paul Kay (2004). Color naming and sunlight: Commentary on Lindsey and Brown (2002). Psychological Science, 15(4), 289-290.

Terry Regier and Susanne Gahl (2004). Learning the unlearnable: The role of missing evidence. Cognition 93, 147-155.

Terry Regier (2003). Emergent constraints on word-learning: A computational review. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7, 263-268.

Paul Kay and Terry Regier (2003). Resolving the question of color naming universals. PNAS, 100, 9085-9089.

Terry Regier and Mingyu Zheng (2003). An attentional constraint on spatial meaning. In R. Alterman and D. Kirsh (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Terry Regier (2003). Constraining computational models of cognition. In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (pp. 611-615). London: Macmillan.

Terry Regier, Bryce Corrigan, Rachael Cabasaan, Amanda Woodward, Michael Gasser, and Linda Smith. (2001). The emergence of words. In J. D. Moore and K. Stenning (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 815-820). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Terry Regier and Laura Carlson (2001). Grounding spatial language in perception: An empirical and computational investigation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 273-298.

L. Elizabeth Crawford, Terry Regier, and Janellen Huttenlocher (2000). Linguistic and non-linguistic spatial categorization. Cognition, 75, 209-235.