146,302 research outputs found
Synthetic Semiotics: on modelling and simulating the \ud emergence of sign processes
Based on formal-theoretical principles about the \ud
sign processes involved, we have built synthetic experiments \ud
to investigate the emergence of communication based on \ud
symbols and indexes in a distributed system of sign users, \ud
following theoretical constraints from C.S.Peirce theory of \ud
signs, following a Synthetic Semiotics approach. In this paper, we summarize these computational experiments and results regarding associative learning processes of symbolic sign modality and cognitive conditions in an evolutionary process for the emergence of either symbol-based or index-based communication
Evolution of symbolic communication : an embodied perspective
This thesis investigates the emergence in human evolution of
communication through symbols, or conventional, arbitrary signs.
Previous work has argued that symbolic speech was preceded by
communication through nonarbitrary signs, but how vocal symbolic
communication arose out of this has not been extensively studied.
Thus far, past research has emphasized the advantages of vocal
symbols and pointed to communicative and evolutionary pressures that
would have spurred their development.
Based on semiotic principles, I examine emergence in terms of two
factors underlying symbols: interpretation and conventionalization. I
address the question with a consideration of embodied human
experience – that is, accounting for the particular features that
characterize human communication. This involves simultaneous
expression through vocal and gestural modalities, each of which has
distinct semiotic properties and serves distinct functions in language
today. I examine research on emerging sign systems together with
research on properties of human communication to address the
question of symbol emergence in terms of the specific context of
human evolution.
I argue that, instead of in response to pressures for improved
communication, symbolic vocalizations could have emerged through
blind cultural processes out of the conditions of multimodal
nonarbitrary communication in place prior to modern language.
Vocalizations would have been interpreted as arbitrary by virtue of
their semiotic profile relative to that of gesture, and arbitrary
vocalizations could have become conventionalized via the
communicative support of nonarbitrary gestures. This scenario avoids
appealing to improbable evolutionary and psychological processes and
provides a comprehensive and evolutionarily sound explanation for
symbol emergence.
I present experiments that test hypotheses stemming from this claim. I
show that novel arbitrary vocal forms are interpreted and adopted as
symbols even when these are uninformative and gesture is the primary
mode of communication. I also present computational models that
simulate multi-channel, heterosemiotic communication like that of
arbitrary speech and nonarbitrary gesture. These demonstrate that
information like that provided by gesture can enable the
conventionalization of symbols across a population. The results from
experiments and simulations together support the claim that symbolic
communication could arise naturally from multimodal nonarbitrary
communication, offering an explanation for symbol emergence more
consistent with evolutionary principles than existing proposals
Language: The missing selection pressure
Human beings are talkative. What advantage did their ancestors find in
communicating so much? Numerous authors consider this advantage to be "obvious"
and "enormous". If so, the problem of the evolutionary emergence of language
amounts to explaining why none of the other primate species evolved anything
even remotely similar to language. What I propose here is to reverse the
picture. On closer examination, language resembles a losing strategy. Competing
for providing other individuals with information, sometimes striving to be
heard, makes apparently no sense within a Darwinian framework. At face value,
language as we can observe it should never have existed or should have been
counter-selected. In other words, the selection pressure that led to language
is still missing. The solution I propose consists in regarding language as a
social signaling device that developed in a context of generalized insecurity
that is unique to our species. By talking, individuals advertise their
alertness and their ability to get informed. This hypothesis is shown to be
compatible with many characteristics of language that otherwise are left
unexplained.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figure
Studying sign processes in the emergence of communication
Communication depends on the production and interpretation \ud
of representations, but the study of representational processes \ud
underlying communication finds little discussion in \ud
computational experiments. Here we present an experiment \ud
on the emergence of both interpretation and production of \ud
multiple representations, with multiple referents, where \ud
referential processes can be tracked. Results show the \ud
dynamics of semiotic processes during the evolution of \ud
artificial creatures and the emergence of a variety of semiotic \ud
processes, such as sign production, sign interpretation, and \ud
sign-object-interpretant relations
How nouns and verbs differentially affect the behavior of artificial organisms
This paper presents an Artificial Life and Neural Network (ALNN) model for the evolution of syntax. The simulation methodology provides a unifying approach for the study of the evolution of language and its interaction with other behavioral and neural factors. The model uses an object manipulation task to simulate the evolution of language based on a simple verb-noun rule. The analyses of results focus on the interaction between language and other non-linguistic abilities, and on the neural control of linguistic abilities. The model shows that the beneficial effects of language on non-linguistic behavior are explained by the emergence of distinct internal representation patterns for the processing of verbs and nouns
Autism, the Integrations of 'Difference' and the Origins of Modern Human Behaviour
It is proposed here that the archaeological evidence for the emergence of 'modern behaviour' (160,000-40,000 bp) can best be explained as the rise of cognitive variation within populations through social mechanisms for integrating 'different minds', rather than by the development of a single 'modern human mind'. Autism and the autistic spectrum within human populations are used as an example of 'different minds' which when integrated within society can confer various selective benefits. It is proposed that social mechanisms for incorporating autistic difference are visible in the archaeological record and that these develop sporadically from 160,000 years bp in association with evidence for their consequences in terms of technological innovations, improved efficiency in technological and natural spheres and innovative thinking. Whilst other explanations for the emergence Of modern human behaviour may also contribute to observed changes, it is argued that the incorporation of cognitive differences played a significant role in the technological, social and symbolic expression of 'modern' behaviour
Combinatoriality in the vocal systems of nonhuman animals
A key challenge in the field of human language evolution is the identification of the selective conditions that gave rise to language's generative nature. Comparative data on nonhuman animals provides a powerful tool to investigate similarities and differences among nonhuman and human communication systems and to reveal convergent evolutionary mechanisms. In this article, we provide an overview of the current evidence for combinatorial structures found in the vocal system of diverse species. We show that considerable structural diversity exits across and within species in the forms of combinatorial structures used. Based on this we suggest that a fine‐grained classification and differentiation of combinatoriality is a useful approach permitting systematic comparisons across animals. Specifically, this will help to identify factors that might promote the emergence of combinatoriality and, crucially, whether differences in combinatorial mechanisms might be driven by variations in social and ecological conditions or cognitive capacities
Üner Tan Syndrome: Review and Emergence of Human Quadrupedalism in Self-Organization,\ud Attractors and Evolutionary Perspectives\ud
The first man reported in the world literature exhibiting habitual quadrupedal locomotion was discovered by a British traveler and writer on the famous Baghdat road near Havsa/Samsun on the middle Black-Sea coast of Turkey (Childs, 1917). Interestingly, no single case with human quadrupedalism was reported in the scientific literature after Child's first description in 1917 until the first report on the Uner Tan syndrome (UTS: quadrupedalism, mental retardation, and impaired speech or no speech)in 2005 (Tan, 2005, 2006). Between 2005 and 2010, 10 families exhibiting the syndrome were discovered in Turkey with 33 cases: 14 women (42.4%) and 19 men (57.6%). Including a few cases from other countries, there were 25 men (64.1%)and 14 women (35.9%). The number of men significantly exceeded the number of women (p < .05). Genetics alone did not seem to be informative for the origins of many syndromes, including the Uner Tan syndrome. From the viewpoint of dynamical systems theory, there may not be a single factor including the neural and/or genetic codes that predetermines the emergence of the human quadrupedalism.Rather, it may involve a self-organization process, consisting of many decentralized and local interactions among neuronal, genetic, and environmental subsystems. The most remarkable characteristic of the UTS, the diagonal-sequence quadrupedalism is well developed in primates. The evolutionarily advantage of this gait is not known. However, there seems to be an evolutionarily advantage of this type of locomotion for primate evolution, with regard to the emergence of complex neural circuits with related highly complex structures. Namely, only primates with diagonal-sequence quadrupedal locomotion followed an evolution favoring larger brains, highly developed cognitive abilities with hand skills, and language, with erect posture and bipedal locomotion, creating the unity of human being. It was suggested that UTS may be considered a further example for Darwinian diseases, which may be associated with an evolutionary understanding of the disorders using evolutionary principles, such as the natural selection. On the other hand, the human quadrupedalism was proposed to be a phenotypic example of evolution of reverse, i.e., the reacquisition by derived populations of the same character states as those of ancestor populations. It was also suggested that the emergence of the human quadrupedalism may be related to self-organizing processes occurring in complex systems, which select or attract one preferred behavioral state or locomotor trait out of many possible attractor states. Concerning the locomotor patterns, the dynamical systems in brain and body of the developing child may prefer some kind of locomotion, according to interactions of the internal components and the environmental conditions, without a direct role of any causative factor(s), such as genetic or neural codes, consistent with the concept of self-organization, suggesting no single element may have a causal priority
Emergence of Zipf's Law in the Evolution of Communication
Zipf's law seems to be ubiquitous in human languages and appears to be a
universal property of complex communicating systems. Following the early
proposal made by Zipf concerning the presence of a tension between the efforts
of speaker and hearer in a communication system, we introduce evolution by
means of a variational approach to the problem based on Kullback's Minimum
Discrimination of Information Principle. Therefore, using a formalism fully
embedded in the framework of information theory, we demonstrate that Zipf's law
is the only expected outcome of an evolving, communicative system under a
rigorous definition of the communicative tension described by Zipf.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
- …