MIS is a bilateral metric. Unilateral metrics, e.g. \emph{topographic similarity (topo)}\cite{} and \emph{posdis}\cite{}, only take the policy of the speaker into consideration. We provide an example to illustrate the inadequacy of unilateral metrics, as shown in Figure~\ref{fig:unilateral}. In this example, the speaker only uses $s_1$ to represent shape. From the perspective of speaker, the language is perfectly compositional (i.e. both topo and posdis are 1). However, the listener cannot distinguish the shape depend only on $s_1$, showing the non-compositionality in this language. The bilateral metric MIS addresses such defect by taking the policy of the listener into account, thus $MIS < 1$.
MIS is a bilateral metric. Unilateral metrics, e.g. \emph{topographic similarity (topo)}\cite{} and \emph{posdis}\cite{}, only take the policy of the speaker into consideration. We provide an example to illustrate the inadequacy of unilateral metrics, shown in Figure~\ref{fig:unilateral}. In this example, the speaker only uses $s_1$ to represent shape. From the perspective of speaker, the language is perfectly compositional (i.e. both topo and posdis are 1). However, the listener cannot distinguish the shape depend only on $s_1$, showing the non-compositionality in this language. The bilateral metric MIS addresses such defect by taking the policy of the listener into account, thus $MIS < 1$.
