Exploring the cognitive infrastructure of communication
-
J.P. de Ruiter
Abstract
Human communication is often thought about in terms of transmitted messages in a conventional code like a language. But communication requires a specialized interactive intelligence. Senders have to be able to perform recipient design, while receivers need to be able to do intention recognition, knowing that recipient design has taken place. To study this interactive intelligence in the lab, we developed a new task that taps directly into the underlying abilities to communicate in the absence of a conventional code. We show that subjects are remarkably successful communicators under these conditions, especially when senders get feedback from receivers. Signaling is accomplished by the manner in which an instrumental action is performed, such that instrumentally dysfunctional components of an action are used to convey communicative intentions. The findings have important implications for the nature of the human communicative infrastructure, and the task opens up a line of experimentation on human communication.
Abstract
Human communication is often thought about in terms of transmitted messages in a conventional code like a language. But communication requires a specialized interactive intelligence. Senders have to be able to perform recipient design, while receivers need to be able to do intention recognition, knowing that recipient design has taken place. To study this interactive intelligence in the lab, we developed a new task that taps directly into the underlying abilities to communicate in the absence of a conventional code. We show that subjects are remarkably successful communicators under these conditions, especially when senders get feedback from receivers. Signaling is accomplished by the manner in which an instrumental action is performed, such that instrumentally dysfunctional components of an action are used to convey communicative intentions. The findings have important implications for the nature of the human communicative infrastructure, and the task opens up a line of experimentation on human communication.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Experimental semiotics 1
- Systematicity and arbitrariness in novel communication systems 15
- Can iterated learning explain the emergence of graphical symbols? 33
- Exploring the cognitive infrastructure of communication 51
- The evolution of communication 79
- The effects of rapidity of fading on communication systems 101
- Investigating how cultural transmission leads to the appearance of design without a designer in human communication systems 113
- An experimental study of social selection and frequency of interaction in linguistic diversity 139
- Index 161
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Experimental semiotics 1
- Systematicity and arbitrariness in novel communication systems 15
- Can iterated learning explain the emergence of graphical symbols? 33
- Exploring the cognitive infrastructure of communication 51
- The evolution of communication 79
- The effects of rapidity of fading on communication systems 101
- Investigating how cultural transmission leads to the appearance of design without a designer in human communication systems 113
- An experimental study of social selection and frequency of interaction in linguistic diversity 139
- Index 161
