27 research outputs found
Iconicity and ape gesture.
Iconic gestures are hypothesized to be c rucial to the evolution of language. Yet the important question of whether apes produce iconic gestures is the subject of considerable debate. This paper presents the current state of research on iconicity in ape gesture. In particular, it describes some of the empirical evidence suggesting that apes produce three different kinds of iconic gestures; it compares the iconicity hypothesis to other major hypotheses of ape gesture; and finally, it offers some directions for future ape gesture researc
Bodily mimesisas âthe missing linkâ in human cognitive evolution
It is fairly uncontroversial that there is a large gap between the communicative and cognitive systems of non-human animals and those of human beings. There is much less consensus, however, on what the nature of this gap is, and even less on how it was bridged in evolution
Rough-and-tumble play as a window on animal communication.
Rough-and-tumble play (RT) is a widespread phenomenon in mammals. Since it involves competition, whereby one
animal attempts to gain advantage over another, RT runs the risk of escalation to serious fighting. Competition is
typically curtailed by some degree of cooperation and different signals help negotiate potential mishaps during RT. This
review provides a framework for such signals, showing that they range along two dimensions: one from signals borrowed
from other functional contexts to those that are unique to play, and the other from purely emotional expressions to
highly cognitive (intentional) constructions. Some animal taxa have exaggerated the emotional and cognitive interplay
aspects of play signals, yielding admixtures of communication that have led to complex forms of RT. This complexity
has been further exaggerated in some lineages by the development of specific novel gestures that can be used to
negotiate playful mood and entice reluctant partners. Play-derived gestures may provide new mechanisms by which
more sophisticated communication forms can evolve. Therefore, RT and playful communication provide a window
into the study of social cognition, emotional regulation and the evolution of communication systems
Gestural and symbolic development among apes and humans: support for a multimodal theory of language evolution
What are the implications of similarities and differences in the gestural and symbolic development of apes and humans?This focused review uses as a starting point our recent study that provided evidence that gesture supported the symbolic development of a chimpanzee, a bonobo, and a human child reared in language-enriched environments at comparable stages of communicative development. These three species constitute a complete clade, species possessing a common immediate ancestor. Communicative behaviors observed among all species in a clade are likely to have been present in the common ancestor. Similarities in the form and function of many gestures produced by the chimpanzee, bonobo, and human child suggest that shared non-verbal skills may underlie shared symbolic capacities. Indeed, an ontogenetic sequence from gesture to symbol was present across the clade but more pronounced in child than ape. Multimodal expressions of communicative intent (e.g., vocalization plus persistence or eye-contact) were normative for the child, but less common for the apes. These findings suggest that increasing multimodal expression of communicative intent may have supported the emergence of language among the ancestors of humans. Therefore, this focused review includes new studies, since our 2013 article, that support a multimodal theory of language evolution
A comparative developmental approach to multimodal communication in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Studying how communication of our closest relatives, the great-apes, develops can inform our understanding of the socio-ecological drivers shaping language evolution. However, despite a now recognized ability of great apes to produce multimodal signal combinations, a key feature of human language, we lack knowledge about when or how this ability manifests throughout ontogeny. In this thesis, I aimed to address this issue by examining the development of multimodal signal combinations (also referred to as multimodal combinations) in chimpanzees. To establish an ontogenetic trajectory of combinatorial signalling, my first empirical study examined age and context related variation in the production of multimodal combinations in relation to unimodal signals. Results showed that older individuals used multimodal combinations at significantly higher frequencies than younger individuals although the unimodal signalling remained dominant. In addition, I found a strong influence of playful and aggressive contexts on multimodal communication, supporting previous suggestions that combinations function to disambiguate messages in high-stakes interactions. Subsequently, I looked at influences in the social environment which may contribute to patterns of communication development. I turned first to the mother-infant relationship which characterises early infancy before moving onto interactive behaviour in the wider social environment and the role of multimodal combinations in communicative interactions. Results indicate that mothers support the development of communicative signalling in their infants, transitioning from more action-based to signalling behaviours with infant age. Furthermore, mothers responded more to communicative signals than physical actions overall, which may help young chimpanzees develop effective communication skills. Within the wider community, I found that interacting with a wider number of individuals positively influenced multimodal combination production. Moreover, in contrast to the literature surrounding unimodal signals, these multimodal signals appeared highly contextually specific. Finally, I found that within communicative interactions, young chimpanzees showed increasing awareness of recipient visual orientation with age, producing multimodal combinations most often when the holistic signal could be received. Moreover, multimodal combinations were more effective in soliciting recipient responses and satisfactory interactional outcomes irrespective of age. Overall, these findings highlight the relevance of studying ape communication development from a multimodal perspective and provide new evidence of developmental patterns that echo those seen in humans, while simultaneously highlighting important species differences. Multimodal communication development appears to be influenced by varying socio-environmental factors including the context and patterns of communicative interaction
Integrating Gestures
Gestures convey information about culture, discourse, thought, intentionality, emotion, intersubjectivity, cognition, and first and second language acquisition. Additionally, they are used by non-human primates to communicate with their peers and with humans. Consequently, the modern field of gesture studies has attracted researchers from a number of different disciplines such as anthropology, cognitive science, communication, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, primatology, psychology, robotics, sociology and semiotics. This volume presents an overview of the depth and breadth of current research in gesture. Its focus is on the interdisciplinary nature of gesture. The chapters included in the volume are divided into six themes: the nature and functions of gesture, first language development and gesture, second language effects on gesture, gesture in the classroom and in problem solving, gesture aspects of discourse and interaction, and gestural analysis of music and dance
Integrating Gestures
Gestures convey information about culture, discourse, thought, intentionality, emotion, intersubjectivity, cognition, and first and second language acquisition. Additionally, they are used by non-human primates to communicate with their peers and with humans. Consequently, the modern field of gesture studies has attracted researchers from a number of different disciplines such as anthropology, cognitive science, communication, neuroscience, psycholinguistics, primatology, psychology, robotics, sociology and semiotics. This volume presents an overview of the depth and breadth of current research in gesture. Its focus is on the interdisciplinary nature of gesture. The chapters included in the volume are divided into six themes: the nature and functions of gesture, first language development and gesture, second language effects on gesture, gesture in the classroom and in problem solving, gesture aspects of discourse and interaction, and gestural analysis of music and dance
Art in the Making: The evolutionary origins of visual art as a communication signal
The corpus of art from the
Pleistocene has grown substantially in recent decades, and with it, the
earliest evidence of visual art has become much older than previously
anticipated, going back over 100,000 years. This new information has
rendered some traditional ideas about the recent origins of visual art
obsolete. Existing archaeological and evolutionary models that aim to
explain the emergence of visual art should now be reassessed in light of
current data. That is the aim of this book. First, it reviews the
earliest examples of different forms of visual art in two important
archaeological periods of human artistic innovation, the height of the
African Middle Stone Age, and the European Early Upper Palaeolithic. It
then takes a critical view at three influential origins-of-art models,
namely, the sexual selection model, the social cohesion model, and the
cognitive evolution model. Finally, it offers an alternative proposal
that redefines visual art as a communication signal and, using the
archaeological evidence, relates its emergence and development to the
evolution of human cooperation strategies. This book will appeal to
anyone interested in the debate of the origins of art and the evolution
of modern human cognition, behaviour, and culture.Modern and Contemporary Studie