The annual Irish Conferences on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science have become the major forum in Ireland for the discussion of various aspects of artificial intelligence. Their aim is to provide a forum where researchers can present their current work, and where industrial and commercial users can relate this work to their own practical needs and experiences. Although the emphasis of the conferences is on Irish research, there are also important contributions from Europe, Australia, Canada and the USA. This volume is based on the proceedings of the Fifth Irish Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Science (AICS'92), which was held at the University of Limerick, Ireland, from 10-11 September 1992. The conference was divided into 6 sessions covering knowledge representation, cognitive foundations, natural languages, learning and expert systems, and novel aspects of artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Among the specific topics covered in this volume are: a model-based theory of conceptual combination; the nature and development of reasoning strategies; word recognition as a parsing problem; a knowledge-based autonomous vehicle system for emergency management support; the construction and use of scope neutral discourse entities; computer-based iconic communication; and exceptions in multiple inheritance systems.