A mentalist framework for linguistic and extralinguistic communication

We outline some components of a mentalist theory of human communicative competence. Communication in our species is an intentional and overt type of social interaction, based on each agent's capability of entertaining shared mental states and of acting so as to make certain mental states shared with the other. Communicative meaning is a matter of ascription: it is not an intrinsic property of a communicative act, but is instead created here and now as the shared construction of the interlocutors. We then discuss how communicative actions are superficially realized by our species, focusing in particular on the difference between linguistic and extralinguistic (that is, gestural) means of expression. Linguistic communication is the communicative use of a symbol system, whereas extralinguistic communication is the communicative use of a set of symbols. The difference turns out to be a matter of processing rather than of intrinsic structure

Simple and Complex Speech Acts: What Makes the Difference within a Developmental Perspective

In the linguistic psychological literature, there is a classical distinction between direct and indirect speech acts. In particular, some theories claim that the latter are more difficult to produce and comprehend than the former. W e propose to abandon such a distinction in favour of a novel one between simple and complex speech acts. This distinction applies to any kind of pragmatic phenomena, from standard speech acts to non standard ones, like irony and deceit. Our proposal is based on the types of mental representations and mental operations involved in speech acts production and comprehension

Intentional Minds: A Philosophical Analysis of Intention Tested through fMRI Experiments Involving People with Schizophrenia, People with Autism, and Healthy Individuals

In this paper we show how we empirically tested one of the most relevant topics in philosophy of mind through a series of fMRI experiments: the classification of different types of intention. To this aim, firstly we trace a theoretical distinction among private, prospective, and communicative intentions. Second, we propose a set of predictions concerning the recognition of these three types of intention in healthy individuals, and we report the experimental results corroborating our theoretical model of intention. Third, we derive from our model predictions relevant for the domain of psychopathological functioning. In particular, we treat the cases of both hyper-intentionality (as in paranoid schizophrenia) and hypo-intentionality (as in autistic spectrum disorders). Our conclusion is that the theoretical model of intention we propose contributes to enlarge our knowledge on the neurobiological bases of intention processing, in both healthy people and in people with impairments to the neurocognitive system that underlies intention recognition

Conversation and behavior games in the pragmatics of dialogue

In this article we present the bases for a computational theory of the cognitive processes underlying human communication. The core of the article is devoted to the analysis of the phases in which the process of comprehension of a communicative act can be logically divided: (1) literal meaning, where the reconstruction of the mental states literally expressed by the actor takes place; (2) speaker’s meaning. where the partner reconstructs the communicative intentions of the actor; (3) communicative effect, where the partner possibly modifies his own beliefs and intentions; (4) reaction, where the intentions for the generation of the response are produced: and (5) response, where an overt response is constructed. The model appears to be compatible with relevant facts about human behavior. Our hypothesis is that, through communication, on actor tries to exploit the motivational structures of a partner so that the desired goal is generated. A second point is that social behavior requires that cooperation be maintained at some level. In the case of communication, cooperation is, in general, pursued even when the partner does not adhere to the actor’s goals, and therefore no cooperation occurs at the behavioral level. This important distinction is reflected in the two kinds of games we introduce to account for communication. The main concept implied in communication is that two agents overtly reach a situation of shared mental states. Our model deols with sharedness through two primitives: shared beliefs and communicative intentions

Neuropragmatics: Extralinguistic communication after closed head injury

This work is concerned with the decay of communicative abilities after head trauma. A protocol composed of 16 videotaped scenes was devised in order to investigate the comprehension of several types of communicative actions realized with extralinguistic means, like pointing or clapping. The protocol was administered to 30 closed head injured individuals. The results showed a decreasing performance from simple standard acts, to complex standard acts, deceits, and ironies. The subjects' performance was worse with the scenes reproducing failing, rather than successful, communicative actions. The results are compared with those we previously obtained with a linguistic protocol. A theory of the cognitive processes underlying intentional communication is outlined and used to explain the results

Pengaruh Tebal Kaca Penutup Terhadap Efisiensi Kolektor Surya Pelat Gelombang Tipe V Pada Proses Destilasi Air Laut

This study aims to analyze the effect of the glass cover with the thickness 3 mm, 5 mm and 8 mm get the efficiency of the solar collector plate V and the efficiency of distillation. The result is that the efficiency of the collector and the amount of water distillation produced by the glass cover with the thickness 3 mm, 5 mm, and 8 mm reduced simultaneously. The highest efficiency of collector occurred on the glass cover with the thickness 3 mm with an average value of 47. 85% and the lowest efficiency occurred on glass cover with the thickness 8 mm with the average value of 40.65%. While the highest amount of water distillation occurred on glass cover with the thickness 3 mm with an average value of 16.93 mL and the lowest amount of water occurred on the glass with the thickness 8 mm with an average value of 11.13 mL. Consequently, the average of the efficiency of the lowest distillation occurred on glass with the thickness 5 mm is 8.86%. This is due to the glass cover with the thickness 3 mm has a high transmission and absorption in which it is inversely proportional to the glass cover with the thickness 5 mm and 8 mm that has low transmission and high absorptio