Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) develop a successful communicative strategy to collaborate

Successful collaboration often relies on individuals’ capacity to communicate with each other. Despite extensive research on chimpanzee communication, there is little evidence that chimpanzees are capable, without extensive human training, of regulating collaborative activities via communication. This study investigated whether pairs of chimpanzees were capable of communicating to ensure coordination during collaborative problem-solving. The chimpanzee pairs needed two tools to extract fruits from an apparatus. The communicator in each pair could see the location of the tools (hidden in one of two boxes), whereas only the recipient could open the boxes. The subjects were first successfully tested for their capacity to understand the pointing gestures of a human who indicated the location of the tools. In a subsequent conspecifics test, the communicator increasingly communicated the tools’ location, by approaching the baited box and giving the key needed to open it to the recipients. The recipient used these signals and obtained the tools, transferring one of the tools to the communicator so that the pair could collaborate in obtaining the fruits. The study suggests that chimpanzees have the necessary socio-cognitive skills to naturally develop a simple communicative strategy to ensure coordination in a collaborative task

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) coordinate by communicating in a collaborative problem-solving task

Successful collaboration often relies on individuals' capacity to communicate with each other. Despite extensive research on chimpanzee communication, there is little evidence that chimpanzees are capable, without extensive human training, of regulating collaborative activities via communication. This study investigated whether pairs of chimpanzees were capable of communicating to ensure coordination during collaborative problem-solving. The chimpanzee pairs needed two tools to extract fruits from an apparatus. The communicator in each pair could see the location of the tools (hidden in one of two boxes), whereas only the recipient could open the boxes. The subjects were first successfully tested for their capacity to understand the pointing gestures of a human who indicated the location of the tools. In a subsequent conspecifics test, the communicator increasingly communicated the tools’ location, by approaching the baited box and giving the key needed to open it to the recipients. The recipient used these signals and obtained the tools, transferring one of the tools to the communicator so that the pair could collaborate in obtaining the fruits. The study suggests that chimpanzees have the necessary socio-cognitive skills to naturally develop a simple communicative strategy to ensure coordination in a collaborative task

How animals collaborate : underlying proximate mechanisms

Funding: Templeton World Charity Foundation (Grant Number(s): TWCF0264).Collaboration or social interactions in which two or more individuals coordinate their behavior to produce outcomes from which both individuals benefit are common in nature. Individuals from many species hunt together, defend their territory, and form coalitions in intragroup competition. However, we still know very little about the proximate mechanisms underlying these behaviors. Recent theories of human cognitive evolution have emphasized the role collaboration may have played in the selection of socio‐cognitive skills. It has been argued that the capacity to form shared goals and joint intentions with others, is what allows humans to collaborate so flexibly and efficiently. Although there is no evidence that nonhuman animals are capable of shared intentionality, there is conceivably a wide range of proximate mechanisms that support forms of, potentially flexible, collaboration in other species. We review the experimental literature with the aim of evaluating what we know about how other species achieve collaboration; with a particular focus on chimpanzees. We structure the review with a new categorization of collaborative behavior that focuses on whether individuals intentionally coordinate actions with others. We conclude that for a wider comparative perspective we need more data from other species but the findings so far suggest that chimpanzees, and possibly other great apes, are capable of understanding the causal role of a partner in collaboration.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The Function of Gesture in an Architectural Design Meeting

This text presents a cognitive-psychology analysis of spontaneous, co-speech gestures in a face-to-face architectural design meeting (A1 in DTRS7). The long-term objective is to formulate specifications for remote collaborative-design systems, especially for supporting the use of different semiotic modalities (multi-modal interaction). According to their function for design, interaction, and collaboration, we distinguish different gesture families: representational (entity designating or specifying), organisational (management of discourse, interaction, or functional design actions), focalising, discourse and interaction modulating, and disambiguating gestures. Discussion and conclusion concern the following points. It is impossible to attribute fixed functions to particular gesture forms. "Designating" gestures may also have a design function. The gestures identified in A1 possess a certain generic character. The gestures identified are neither systematically irreplaceable, nor optional accessories to speech or drawing. We discuss the possibilities for gesture in computer-supported collaborative software systems. The paper closes on our contribution to gesture studies and cognitive design research

Inferential communication : bridging the gap between intentional and ostensive communication in non-human primates

This work was supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013)/ERC Grant 609819 (SOMICS).Communication, when defined as an act intended to affect the psychological state of another individual, demands the use of inference. Either the signaler, the recipient, or both must make leaps of understanding which surpass the semantic information available and draw from pragmatic clues to fully imbue and interpret meaning. While research into human communication and the evolution of language has long been comfortable with mentalistic interpretations of communicative exchanges, including rich attributions of mental state, research into animal communication has balked at theoretical models which describe mentalized cognitive mechanisms. We submit a new theoretical perspective on animal communication: the model of inferential communication. For use when existing proximate models of animal communication are not sufficient to fully explain the complex, flexible, and intentional communication documented in certain species, specifically non-human primates, we present our model as a bridge between shallower, less cognitive descriptions of communicative behavior and the perhaps otherwise inaccessible mentalistic interpretations of communication found in theoretical considerations of human language. Inferential communication is a framework that builds on existing evidence of referentiality, intentionality, and social inference in primates. It allows that they might be capable of applying social inferences to a communicative setting, which could explain some of the cognitive processes that enable the complexity and flexibility of primate communication systems. While historical models of animal communication focus on the means-ends process of behavior and apparent cognitive outcomes, inferential communication invites consideration of the mentalistic processes that must underlie those outcomes. We propose a mentalized approach to questions, investigations, and interpretations of non-human primate communication. We include an overview of both ultimate and proximate models of animal communication, which contextualize the role and utility of our inferential communication model, and provide a detailed breakdown of the possible levels of cognitive complexity which could be investigated using this framework. Finally, we present some possible applications of inferential communication in the field of non-human primate communication and highlight the role it could play in advancing progress toward an increasingly precise understanding of the cognitive capabilities of our closest living relatives.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

E-Leadership or “How to Be Boss in Instant Messaging?” The Role of Nonverbal Communication

Doing leadership in the virtual realm has now become a routine part of many leaders’ daily work, yet our understanding of how leadership is enacted in mediated contexts—especially in text-only channels—is very limited. By applying micro-level analysis to naturally occurring instant message conversations, this article exposes the strategies leaders employ to achieve a range of complex communication goals: to get the work done while fostering informality and collegiality and creating the sense of a real—and not virtual—collaboration between team members. The findings further our understanding in two domains: They provide empirical grounding for e-leadership theories by exposing practices from real-life interactions, and they contribute to discursive leadership literature by addressing nonverbal communication practices. The findings of the article could form the basis for management and leadership training by drawing attention to the linguistic and semiotic resources digital leaders have at their disposal in virtual work environments

Elementary Teachers\u27 Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors During Math Instruction

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe elementary teachers’ nonverbal immediacy behaviors during math instruction. The instructional and non-instructional nonverbal behaviors of six female third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers were studied. Methods used included video recording math lessons, conducting one-on-one interviews, and reviewing relevant literature. Data analyses were completed through documenting major nonverbal behaviors displayed and identifying codes, categories, themes, and assertions (utilizing Excel spreadsheet software). The conceptual framework underlying this study has its foundation in phenomenology. As a research methodology, phenomenology investigates how an experience is lived by its participants. Immediacy was the construct used to describe teachers’ nonverbal behaviors during mathematics instruction. This overall framework supported the findings that arose from the data as it came forth from the six teacher participants. The following four themes emerged from the data analysis, including Classroom Environment and Instructional Elements; Math Nonverbal Immediacy Behaviors, Math Concepts, and Real-life Examples; Student Engagement; and Teachers\u27 Reflections and Realizations. These four themes led to two assertions. The first assertion was: “Student engagement during math lessons is interdependent with teachers’ nonverbal behaviors.” The second assertion was: “Teachers’ perceptions of their nonverbal behaviors are essential to the lesson content and instruction as well as intent to form immediacy with students.” Recommendations for teachers include the addition of nonverbal immediacy behavior training through professional development workshops or integration into preservice teacher courses, as well as the pairing of preservice teachers with in-service teachers who employ nonverbal immediacy behaviors. The impact of teachers’ heightened awareness of their nonverbal behaviors might impact current and future lessons and thus, student engagement

COMMUNICATION COMPETENCES TRAINING FOR MANAGERS THROUGH ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITIES

Communication competences are an important indicator of professional success in most areas of activity and a predictor of social success of modern man. This study is a theoretical approach aimed to substantiate a number of good practices based on role-play as an active-participatory communication competences training in general, and for managers in particular. Starting from the definition of „communication” and „competence”, it was decided to operationalize the concept of „communication competences” in order to identify pathways of the formative approach based on role-play, while emphasizing the importance of the context (actual or anticipated ) in which communication takes place. The results obtained show that ameliorating and improving communication skills can be achieved through learning, practicing and introspection, taking into consideration indicators such as: (1) the analysis of the context of communication, (2) the conduct of rendering each other sensitive, of strengthening and motivating each other, (3 ) the conduct of active listening, (4) the conduct of observation, (5) the conduct of oral communication, (6) formulating and asking questions, (7) providing feedback - empathic conduct, (8) psychomotric conduct and (9) nonverbal conduct. Competences are applicable contextually - updated differently in different situations, educating the reflective practice capacity of the profession becoming indispensable - which shows the importance of personal development in gaining professional success.communication, communication competence, role-play, communication context.

Fitting Pragmatics into the Human Mind: A philosophical investigation of the Pragmatics Module Hypothesis

This thesis focuses on the hypothesis that pragmatic understanding is underpinned by a mental module closely related to the ability to interpret others’ behaviors by inferring underlying mental states, also called ‘mindreading’. First, it aims at evaluating the plausibility of this hypothesis in light of the available data in the empirical literature by drawing on the argumentative toolbox of the philosophy of mind and language. Second, it aims at developing this hypothesis by addressing its main theoretical and empirical challenges. In Chapter One, I outline a historical overview of the different declinations of the modularity hypothesis in cognitive science, with a focus on early works in cognitive pragmatics and Theory of Mind research. In Chapter Two, I provide a comprehensive theoretical analysis of the Pragmatics Module Hypothesis by focusing on the central tenets of Relevance Theory. In Chapter Three, I explore the idea of pragmatics as a ‘sub-module’ of Theory of Mind from an empirical perspective by surveying the current state of the art in experimental and clinical pragmatics, thus ‘clearing up’ the recent controversy on the modularity of pragmatics from some misconceptions and empirical predictions which do not follow from the Pragmatics Module Hypothesis. In Chapter Four, I provide a novel cognitive framework for the modular view of pragmatics by evaluating the significance of research on ostensive communication in infancy with respect to the hypothesis of an early-developing modular heuristic for interpreting communicative behaviors. Chapters Five and Six both focus on the several ‘developmental dilemmas’ that must be confronted by intentional-inferential accounts of infant communication like the one endorsed in the present thesis, which will be disentangled, analyzed, and addressed by evaluating several possible solutions. In these two chapters, I show how the cognitive framework offered in Chapter Four can be employed and further extended to deal with such developmental dilemmas from a renewed modular perspective