# A practical introduction to the Rational Speech Act modeling framework

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.09867 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09867/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 12 of its 100 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 May 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 12 of 12)

- [Speaker-Follower Models for Vision-and-Language Navigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.02724/) (2018)
- [Reasoning About Pragmatics with Neural Listeners and Speakers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.00562/) (2016)
- [Colors in Context: A Pragmatic Neural Model for Grounded Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.10186/) (2017)
- [Pragmatically Informative Image Captioning with Character-Level Inference](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.05417/) (2018)
- [Characterizing the dynamics of learning in repeated reference games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.07199/) (2019)
- [Pragmatically Informative Text Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.01301/) (2019)
- [When redundancy is useful: A Bayesian approach to 'overinformative' referring expressions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.08237/) (2019)
- [A Rate-Distortion view of human pragmatic reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.06641/) (2020)
- [Towards a Quantum-Like Cognitive Architecture for Decision-Making](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.05176/) (2019)
- [Learning in the Rational Speech Acts Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1510.06807/) (2015)
- [An Incremental Iterated Response Model of Pragmatics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.00367/) (2018)
- [Lost in Machine Translation: A Method to Reduce Meaning Loss](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.09514/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Bayesian Statistical Modeling with Predictors from LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09012/) (2024)
- [Lumos: Let there be Language Model System Certification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.02966/) (2025)
- [Direct Preference Optimization for Adaptive Concept-based Explanations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.15626/) (2025)
- [Belief Attribution as Mental Explanation: The Role of Accuracy, Informativity, and Causality](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.19376/) (2025)
- [Planning Ahead with RSA: Efficient Signalling in Dynamic Environments by Projecting User Awareness across Future Timesteps](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.23340/) (2025)
- [Compositionality and the lexicon in evolutionary semantics](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.27228/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent advances in computational cognitive science (i.e., simulation-based probabilistic programs) have paved the way for significant progress in formal, implementable models of pragmatics. Rather than describing a pragmatic reasoning process in prose, these models formalize and implement one, deriving both qualitative and quantitative predictions of human behavior -- predictions that consistently prove correct, demonstrating the viability and value of the framework. The current paper provides a practical introduction to and critical assessment of the Bayesian Rational Speech Act modeling framework, unpacking theoretical foundations, exploring technological innovations, and drawing connections to issues beyond current applications.