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

The Emergence of Symbol-Based Communication in a Complex System of Artificial Creatures

We present here a digital scenario to simulate the emergence of self-organized symbol-based communication among artificial creatures inhabiting a virtual world of predatory events. In order to design the environment and creatures, we seek theoretical and empirical constraints from C.S.Peirce Semiotics and an ethological case study of communication among animals. Our results show that the creatures, assuming the role of sign users and learners, behave collectively as a complex system, where self-organization of communicative interactions plays a major role in the emergence of symbol-based communication. We also strive for a careful use of the theoretical concepts involved, including the concepts of symbol, communication, and emergence, and we use a multi-level model as a basis for the interpretation of inter-level relationships in the semiotic processes we are studying

Emergence of Self-Organized Symbol-Based Communication \ud in Artificial Creatures

In this paper, we describe a digital scenario where we simulated the emergence of self-organized symbol-based communication among artificial creatures inhabiting a \ud virtual world of unpredictable predatory events. In our experiment, creatures are autonomous agents that learn symbolic relations in an unsupervised manner, with no explicit feedback, and are able to engage in dynamical and autonomous communicative interactions with other creatures, even simultaneously. In order to synthesize a behavioral ecology and infer the minimum organizational constraints for the design of our creatures, \ud we examined the well-studied case of communication in vervet monkeys. Our results show that the creatures, assuming the role of sign users and learners, behave collectively as a complex adaptive system, where self-organized communicative interactions play a \ud major role in the emergence of symbol-based communication. We also strive in this paper for a careful use of the theoretical concepts involved, including the concepts of symbol and emergence, and we make use of a multi-level model for explaining the emergence of symbols in semiotic systems as a basis for the interpretation of inter-level relationships in the semiotic processes we are studying

Symbols are not uniquely human

Modern semiotics is a branch of logics that formally defines symbol-based communication. In recent years, the semiotic classification of signs has been invoked to support the notion that symbols are uniquely human. Here we show that alarm-calls such as those used by African vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops), logically satisfy the semiotic definition of symbol. We also show that the acquisition of vocal symbols in vervet monkeys can be successfully simulated by a computer program based on minimal semiotic and neurobiological constraints. The simulations indicate that learning depends on the tutor-predator ratio, and that apprentice-generated auditory mistakes in vocal symbol interpretation have little effect on the learning rates of apprentices (up to 80% of mistakes are tolerated). In contrast, just 10% of apprentice-generated visual mistakes in predator identification will prevent any vocal symbol to be correctly associated with a predator call in a stable manner. Tutor unreliability was also deleterious to vocal symbol learning: a mere 5% of “lying” tutors were able to completely disrupt symbol learning, invariably leading to the acquisition of incorrect associations by apprentices. Our investigation corroborates the existence of vocal symbols in a non-human species, and indicates that symbolic competence emerges spontaneously from classical associative learning mechanisms when the conditioned stimuli are self-generated, arbitrary and socially efficacious. We propose that more exclusive properties of human language, such as syntax, may derive from the evolution of higher-order domains for neural association, more removed from both the sensory input and the motor output, able to support the gradual complexification of grammatical categories into syntax

A formação continuada de professores de música no contexto da educação nacional

Este artigo apresenta reflexões acerca das perspectivas para a formação continuada de professores da educação básica no atual cenário político-educacional do país, dimensionando essa realidade para a área de educação musical. O trabalho abrange ainda resultados obtidos a partir da realização de um projeto de formação continuada para professores de música, que contemplou, especificamente, profissionais atuantes no ensino fundamental da rede municipal de João Pessoa-PB. As discussões e análises apresentadas neste artigo têm como base pesquisa bibliográfica e documental que abrangeu publicações e registros diversos relacionadas à formação continuada no Brasil, bem como dados empíricos coletados, junto aos professores participantes do Projeto, a partir de entrevistas, gravações de áudio e de vídeo e fotografias. O estudo pôde evidenciar as concepções e práticas dos professores de música atuantes em João Pessoa, destacando a importância da formação continuada para o fortalecimento das ações docentes no contexto da educação básica