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Canessa E, Chaigneau SE, Moreno S. Using agreement probability to study differences in types of concepts and conceptualizers. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:93-112. [PMID: 36471211 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-02030-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Agreement probability p(a) is a homogeneity measure of lists of properties produced by participants in a Property Listing Task (PLT) for a concept. Agreement probability's mathematical properties allow a rich analysis of property-based descriptions. To illustrate, we use p(a) to delve into the differences between concrete and abstract concepts in sighted and blind populations. Results show that concrete concepts are more homogeneous within sighted and blind groups than abstract ones (i.e., exhibit a higher p(a) than abstract ones) and that concrete concepts in the blind group are less homogeneous than in the sighted sample. This supports the idea that listed properties for concrete concepts should be more similar across subjects due to the influence of visual/perceptual information on the learning process. In contrast, abstract concepts are learned based mainly on social and linguistic information, which exhibit more variability among people, thus, making the listed properties more dissimilar across subjects. Relative to abstract concepts, the difference in p(a) between sighted and blind is not statistically significant. Though this is a null result, and should be considered with care, it is expected because abstract concepts should be learned by paying attention to the same social and linguistic input in both, blind and sighted, and thus, there is no reason to expect that the respective lists of properties should differ. Finally, we used p(a) to classify concrete and abstract concepts with a good level of certainty. All these analyses suggest that p(a) can be fruitfully used to study data obtained in a PLT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Enrique Canessa
- Center for Cognition Research (CINCO), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Presidente Errázuriz 3328, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile.
- Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. P. Hurtado 750, Lote H, Viña del Mar, Chile.
| | - Sergio E Chaigneau
- Center for Cognition Research (CINCO), School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Presidente Errázuriz 3328, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Presidente Errázuriz 3328, Las Condes, Santiago, Chile
| | - Sebastián Moreno
- Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. P. Hurtado 750, Lote H, Viña del Mar, Chile
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2
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Liu J, Zhang R, Xie E, Lin Y, Chen D, Liu Y, Li K, Chen M, Li Y, Wang G, Li X. Shared intentionality modulates interpersonal neural synchronization at the establishment of communication system. Commun Biol 2023; 6:832. [PMID: 37563301 PMCID: PMC10415255 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05197-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Whether and how shared intentionality (SI) influences the establishment of a novel interpersonal communication system is poorly understood. To investigate this issue, we designed a coordinating symbolic communication game (CSCG) and applied behavioral, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning, and hyper-transcranial alternating current stimulation (hyper-tACS) methods. Here we show that SI is a strong contributor to communicative accuracy. Moreover, SI, communicative accuracy, and interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG) are higher when dyads successfully establish a novel communication system. Furthermore, the SI influences communicative accuracy by increasing INS. Additionally, using time series and long short-term memory neural network analyses, we find that the INS can predict communicative accuracy at the early formation stage of the communication system. Importantly, the INS partially mediates the relationship between the SI and the communicative accuracy only at the formation stage of the communication system. In contrast, when the communication system is established, SI and INS no longer contribute to communicative accuracy. Finally, the hyper-tACS experiment confirms that INS has a causal effect on communicative accuracy. These findings suggest a behavioral and neural mechanism, subserved by the SI and INS, that underlies the establishment of a novel interpersonal communication system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieqiong Liu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- Paediatric Translational Medicine Institute, Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ruqian Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Enhui Xie
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yixuan Lin
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Danni Chen
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Liu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Keshuang Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mei Chen
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yangzhuo Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Guanghai Wang
- Paediatric Translational Medicine Institute, Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Xianchun Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
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3
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Mills G, Redeker G. Self-Repair Increases Referential Coordination. Cogn Sci 2023; 47:e13329. [PMID: 37606349 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2022] [Revised: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023]
Abstract
When interlocutors repeatedly describe referents to each other, they rapidly converge on referring expressions which become increasingly systematized and abstract as the interaction progresses. Previous experimental research suggests that interactive repair mechanisms in dialogue underpin convergence. However, this research has so far only focused on the role of other-initiated repair and has not examined whether self-initiated repair might also play a role. To investigate this question, we report the results from a computer-mediated maze task experiment. In this task, participants communicate with each other via an experimental chat tool, which selectively transforms participants' private turn-revisions into public self-repairs that are made visible to the other participant. For example, if a participant, A, types "On the top square," and then before sending, A revises the turn to "On the top row," the server automatically detects the revision and transforms the private turn-revisions into a public self-repair, for example, "On the top square umm I meant row." Participants who received these transformed turns used more abstract and systematized referring expressions, but performed worse at the task. We argue that this is due to the artificial self-repairs causing participants to put more effort into diagnosing and resolving the referential coordination problems they face in the task, yielding better grounded spatial semantics and consequently increased use of abstract referring expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory Mills
- Centre for Language and Cognition (CLCG), Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen
- School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Kingston University
| | - Gisela Redeker
- Centre for Language and Cognition (CLCG), Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen
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4
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Hawkins RD, Sano M, Goodman ND, Fan JE. Visual resemblance and interaction history jointly constrain pictorial meaning. Nat Commun 2023; 14:2199. [PMID: 37069160 PMCID: PMC10110538 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37737-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2023] Open
Abstract
How do drawings-ranging from detailed illustrations to schematic diagrams-reliably convey meaning? Do viewers understand drawings based on how strongly they resemble an entity (i.e., as images) or based on socially mediated conventions (i.e., as symbols)? Here we evaluate a cognitive account of pictorial meaning in which visual and social information jointly support visual communication. Pairs of participants used drawings to repeatedly communicate the identity of a target object among multiple distractor objects. We manipulated social cues across three experiments and a full replication, finding that participants developed object-specific and interaction-specific strategies for communicating more efficiently over time, beyond what task practice or a resemblance-based account alone could explain. Leveraging model-based image analyses and crowdsourced annotations, we further determined that drawings did not drift toward "arbitrariness," as predicted by a pure convention-based account, but preserved visually diagnostic features. Taken together, these findings advance psychological theories of how successful graphical conventions emerge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert D Hawkins
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
| | - Megumi Sano
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Noah D Goodman
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Judith E Fan
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, SC, USA.
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5
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Bohn M, Schmidt LS, Schulze C, Frank MC, Tessler MH. Modeling Individual Differences in Children's Information Integration During Pragmatic Word Learning. Open Mind (Camb) 2022; 6:311-326. [PMID: 36993141 PMCID: PMC10042310 DOI: 10.1162/opmi_a_00069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Pragmatics is foundational to language use and learning. Computational cognitive models have been successfully used to predict pragmatic phenomena in adults and children - on an aggregate level. It is unclear if they can be used to predict behavior on an individual level. We address this question in children (N = 60, 3- to 5-year-olds), taking advantage of recent work on pragmatic cue integration. In Part 1, we use data from four independent tasks to estimate child-specific sensitivity parameters to three information sources: semantic knowledge, expectations about speaker informativeness, and sensitivity to common ground. In Part 2, we use these parameters to generate participant-specific trial-by-trial predictions for a new task that jointly manipulated all three information sources. The model accurately predicted children's behavior in the majority of trials. This work advances a substantive theory of individual differences in which the primary locus of developmental variation is sensitivity to individual information sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Bohn
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Louisa S. Schmidt
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Cornelia Schulze
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Michael Henry Tessler
- DeepMind, London, UK
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA
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6
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Smith K. How Language Learning and Language Use Create Linguistic Structure. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2022. [DOI: 10.1177/09637214211068127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Languages persist through a cycle of learning and use: You learn a language through immersion in the language used in your linguistic community, and in using language to communicate, you produce further linguistic data, which other people might learn from in turn. Languages change over historical time as a result of errors and innovations in these processes of learning and use; this article reviews experimental and computational methods that have been developed to test the hypothesis that those same processes of learning and use are responsible for creating the fundamental structural properties shared by all human languages, including some of the design features that make language such a powerful tool for communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenny Smith
- Centre for Language Evolution, School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh
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7
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Rasenberg M, Özyürek A, Bögels S, Dingemanse M. The Primacy of Multimodal Alignment in Converging on Shared Symbols for Novel Referents. DISCOURSE PROCESSES 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/0163853x.2021.1992235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marlou Rasenberg
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
- Communicative Alignment in Brain and Behaviour team, Language in Interaction consortium, the Netherlands
| | - Asli Özyürek
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University
- Communicative Alignment in Brain and Behaviour team, Language in Interaction consortium, the Netherlands
| | - Sara Bögels
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University
- Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University
- Communicative Alignment in Brain and Behaviour team, Language in Interaction consortium, the Netherlands
| | - Mark Dingemanse
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
- Communicative Alignment in Brain and Behaviour team, Language in Interaction consortium, the Netherlands
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8
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Fay N, Walker B, Kashima Y, Perfors A. Socially Situated Transmission: The Bias to Transmit Negative Information is Moderated by the Social Context. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e13033. [PMID: 34490917 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 07/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Cultural evolutionary theory has identified a range of cognitive biases that guide human social learning. Naturalistic and experimental studies indicate transmission biases favoring negative and positive information. To address these conflicting findings, the present study takes a socially situated view of information transmission, which predicts that bias expression will depend on the social context. We report a large-scale experiment (N = 425) that manipulated the social context and examined its effect on the transmission of the positive and negative information contained in a narrative text. In each social context, information was progressively lost as it was transmitted from person to person, but negative information survived better than positive information, supporting a negative transmission bias. Importantly, the negative transmission bias was moderated by the social context: Higher social connectivity weakened the bias to transmit negative information, supporting a socially situated account of information transmission. Our findings indicate that our evolved cognitive preferences can be moderated by our social goals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Fay
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia
| | - Bradley Walker
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia
| | | | - Andrew Perfors
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne
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9
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Żywiczyński P, Wacewicz S, Lister C. Pantomimic fossils in modern human communication. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200204. [PMID: 33745309 PMCID: PMC8059511 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/25/2021] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Bodily mimesis, the capacity to use the body representationally, was one of the key innovations that allowed early humans to go beyond the 'baseline' of generalized ape communication and cognition. We argue that the original human-specific communication afforded by bodily mimesis was based on signs that involve three entities: an expression that represents an object (i.e. communicated content) for an interpreter. We further propose that the core component of this communication, pantomime, was able to transmit referential information that was not limited to select semantic domains or the 'here-and-now', by means of motivated-most importantly iconic-signs. Pressures for expressivity and economy then led to conventionalization of signs and a growth of linguistic characteristics: semiotic systematicity and combinatorial expression. Despite these developments, both naturalistic and experimental data suggest that the system of pantomime did not disappear and is actively used by modern humans. Its contemporary manifestations, or pantomimic fossils, emerge when language cannot be used, for instance when people do not share a common language, or in situations where the use of (spoken) language is difficult, impossible or forbidden. Under such circumstances, people bootstrap communication by means of pantomime and, when these circumstances persist, newly emergent pantomimic communication becomes increasingly language-like. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Przemysław Żywiczyński
- Center for Language Evolution Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, 87-100 Torun, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland
| | - Sławomir Wacewicz
- Center for Language Evolution Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, 87-100 Torun, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland
| | - Casey Lister
- Faculty of Science, School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, 6009 Perth, WA, Australia
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10
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Lister C, Walker B, Fay N. Innovation and enculturation in child communication: a cross-sectional study. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2020; 2:e56. [PMID: 37588389 PMCID: PMC10427475 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.57] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
How can people achieve successful communication when using novel signs? Previous studies show that iconic signs (i.e. signs that directly resemble their referent) enhance communication success. In this paper, we test if enculturated signs (i.e. signs informed by interlocutors' shared culture) also enhance communication success. Children, who have spent less time in their linguistic community, have less cultural knowledge to inform their sign innovation. A natural prediction is that younger children's signs will be less enculturated, more diverse and less successful compared with older children and adults. We examined sign innovation in children aged between 6 and 12 years (N = 54) and adults (N = 18). Sign enculturation, diversity and iconicity were rated. As predicted, younger children innovated less enculturated and more diverse signs, and communicated less successfully than older children and adults. Sign enculturation and iconicity uniquely contributed to communication success. This is the first study to demonstrate that enculturated signs enhance communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- C.J. Lister
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
| | - B. Walker
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
| | - N. Fay
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA6009, Australia
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11
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Micklos A, Walker B, Fay N. Are People Sensitive to Problems in Communication? Cogn Sci 2020; 44:e12816. [PMID: 32062872 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Recent research indicates that interpersonal communication is noisy, and that people exhibit considerable insensitivity to problems in communication. Using a dyadic referential communication task, the goal of which is accurate information transfer, this study examined the extent to which interlocutors are sensitive to problems in communication and use other-initiated repairs (OIRs) to address them. Participants were randomly assigned to dyads (N = 88 participants, or 44 dyads) and tried to communicate a series of recurring abstract geometric shapes to a partner across a text-chat interface. Participants alternated between directing (describing shapes) and matching (interpreting shape descriptions) roles across 72 trials of the task. Replicating prior research, over repeated social interactions communication success improved and the shape descriptions became increasingly efficient. In addition, confidence in having successfully communicated the different shapes increased over trials. Importantly, matchers were less confident on trials in which communication was unsuccessful, communication success was lower on trials that contained an OIR compared to those that did not contain an OIR, and OIR trials were associated with lower Director Confidence. This pattern of results demonstrates that (a) interlocutors exhibit (a degree of) sensitivity to problems in communication, (b) they appropriately use OIRs to address problems in communication, and (c) OIRs signal problems in communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley Micklos
- Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.,Linguistics Department, University of California San Diego
| | - Bradley Walker
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Western Australia
| | - Nicolas Fay
- School of Psychological Sciences, University of Western Australia
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12
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Young children spontaneously recreate core properties of language in a new modality. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:26072-26077. [PMID: 31792169 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1904871116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
How the world's 6,000+ natural languages have arisen is mostly unknown. Yet, new sign languages have emerged recently among deaf people brought together in a community, offering insights into the dynamics of language evolution. However, documenting the emergence of these languages has mostly consisted of studying the end product; the process by which ad hoc signs are transformed into a structured communication system has not been directly observed. Here we show how young children create new communication systems that exhibit core features of natural languages in less than 30 min. In a controlled setting, we blocked the possibility of using spoken language. In order to communicate novel messages, including abstract concepts, dyads of children spontaneously created novel gestural signs. Over usage, these signs became increasingly arbitrary and conventionalized. When confronted with the need to communicate more complex meanings, children began to grammatically structure their gestures. Together with previous work, these results suggest that children have the basic skills necessary, not only to acquire a natural language, but also to spontaneously create a new one. The speed with which children create these structured systems has profound implications for theorizing about language evolution, a process which is generally thought to span across many generations, if not millennia.
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13
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Fay N, Walker B, Swoboda N, Umata I, Fukaya T, Katagiri Y, Garrod S. Universal Principles of Human Communication: Preliminary Evidence From a Cross-cultural Communication Game. Cogn Sci 2018; 42:2397-2413. [PMID: 30051508 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2017] [Revised: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The present study points to several potentially universal principles of human communication. Pairs of participants, sampled from culturally and linguistically distinct societies (Western and Japanese, N = 108: 16 Western-Western, 15 Japanese-Japanese and 23 Western-Japanese dyads), played a dyadic communication game in which they tried to communicate a range of experimenter-specified items to a partner by drawing, but without speaking or using letters or numbers. This paradigm forced participants to create a novel communication system. A range of similar communication behaviors were observed among the within-culture groups (Western-Western and Japanese-Japanese) and the across-culture group (Western-Japanese): They (a) used iconic signs to bootstrap successful communication, (b) addressed breakdowns in communication using other-initiated repairs, (c) simplified their communication behavior over repeated social interactions, and (d) aligned their communication behavior over repeated social interactions. While the across-culture Western-Japanese dyads found the task more challenging, and cultural differences in communication behavior were observed, the same basic findings applied across all groups. Our findings, which rely on two distinct cultural and linguistic groups, offer preliminary evidence for several universal principles of human communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Fay
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia
| | - Bradley Walker
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia
| | - Nik Swoboda
- Department of Artificial Intelligence, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
| | - Ichiro Umata
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Doshisha University.,KDDI Research, Inc
| | | | | | - Simon Garrod
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow
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