Volume 16, Issue 2

In this theoretical paper, we use a linguistic vocabulary to reframe self-talk in endurance sport through a focus on grammatical function. Self-talk often works as speech acts , a kind of communicative action, e.g. where a self-talker is using the imperative mood to accomplish some goal with respect to herself (Come on!). Auxiliary modal verbs work across three main types of utterances: Deontic modality involving permission and obligation; dynamic modality involving ability and willingness; epistemic modality involving probabilistic judgements. In self-talk, these all function to establish a hypothetical domain for further reflection. Self-distance can be negotiated using 1st and 2nd person pronouns (I/you) and spatial demonstratives (this/that). Sentiment is communicated using adjectives , while negation may yield a means for impulse control. We can question our own utterances and use interjections to communicate surprise. These are all vital mental tools in endurance sports and an increased awareness of their functions in self-talk research will likely yield better self-talk interventions and lead to better performance for athletes.

In this paper, we connect two research directions concerning numeral symbol systems and their epistemological significance. The first direction concerns the cognitive processes involved in acquiring and applying different numeral symbols, e.g. the Indo-Arabic or Roman numeral systems. The second direction is a semiotic one, with focus on Charles Peirce’s Philosophy of Notation. Peirce’s work on logical formalism is well known, but he also wrote extensively on numeral systems. Here we take Peirce’s considerations on central notions like iconicity and simplicity and examine their relevance for comparing different numeral symbol systems. We argue that simplicity and iconicity, for example, cannot be understood as single notions. Instead, they should be connected to different aims of numeral symbols that different systems fulfill to different degrees. Consequently, we focus on the kind of trade-offs that different symbol systems imply in acquiring and applying numeral symbol systems.

Metacognition relies on representations, which are commonly viewed as internal knowledge structures. We explore the idea that external embodied diagrams, rather than monomodal symbolic-based entities, can provide an accurate description of metacognition in choreographic dance. When marking, dancers use their bodies to represent properties, dynamics, or structures of dance phrases. Marking-for-self occurs when a dancer marks the dance in their own unique manner, potentially allowing for real-time reflection through the manipulation of external signs. These manipulations can be considered diagrammatic semiosis, as diagrams signify shared relational parts analogous to the parts of their objects. Based on Peirce’s semiotics, we argue that semiosis is crucial for metacognition. This paper is structured to first review marking and marking-for-self, followed by an overview of metacognition. We then define marking-for-self as a metacognitive phenomenon and introduce Peirce’s concept of semiosis and diagrams. Finally, we describe marking as a diagrammatic sign and explain how marking-for-self is an embodied metacognitive process achieved through the manipulation of diagrammatic structures.

The publication of Wolfgang Wildgen’s  Morphogenesis of Symbolic Forms: Meaning in Music, Art, Religion and Language  is an opportune moment to reflect on the author’s extensive contributions to a dynamic semiotics, founded on catastrophe theory. Bringing together a number of investigations on a number of Cassirer-like “symbolic forms” like music, visual art, myth/religion and language, Wildgen provides an overarching system to weigh the semiotic resources of each of these bodies of knowledge as they contribute to the semiogenesis of the species. By comparing sensorial capacities, Wildgen helps us understand how and when a symbolic form can grow at all. Chapters devoted to each form explore their unique way of organizing knowledge. Using catastrophe primitives, Wildgen both bonds symbolic forms together while at the same time preserving Cassirer’s Enlightenment interest in evolution and the way in which new semiotic capacities grow and others can be discarded. The review ends with a consideration of the humanist’s misunderstanding of mathematical and natural science insights like Wildgen’s and explains how its rich results are to be utilized.