Ostensive Communication: Its Creation, Evolution, and Stability

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Communication is a fundamental component of human life and society. Most of our communication is ostensive: when we communicate, not only do we provide evidence for what we intend to communicate - we also provide evidence for the fact that we are trying to communicate. Ostension is the difference between a pointed finger that is a by-product of looking at your watch, and a pointed finger that is designed to direct someone's attention. Our capacity for ostension means that any behaviour has the potential to be used in a communicative way. Indeed, much human communication is ostensive. It provides the foundation for many human institutions, including both language and culture. It appears to be species-unique, and it has clear evolutionary advantages. Despite this, many basic empirical questions about it are unaddressed. I will use the Future Leaders scheme to experimentally investigate a range of fundamental questions about how ostensive communication systems operate.For example, a growing body of research investigates how communication systems evolve from simple, single-word states to more stable and complex states. There are good theoretical reasons to think that the ways in which these communication systems evolve will change if they are used for ostensive communication. I will test these proposals. This line of research will shed light on the origins and evolution of language - the single most salient and important instance of ostensive communication systems.A second line of research will investigate the general qualities that distinguish ostensive behaviour from otherwise similar behaviour (e.g. the pointing example - what distinguishes the two different points?). I will use an interactive, two-player computer game that I have previously used to investigate how communication systems emerge. In a series of experiments, I will adapt this game a variety of ways in order to determine the basic properties that make a behaviour ostensive. For example: Are ostensive behaviours those that are otherwise irrational? Can the absence of movement be used in an ostensive way? Answers to these questions will help determine what cognitive mechanisms are necessary for ostensive communication, and are hence pre-requisite for the origins of language.Finally, I will also investigate what processes keep ostensive communication evolutionarily stable. If communicators are dishonest, then listeners should ignore them, and the system will collapse, just as it does in Aesop's fable of The Boy That Cried Wolf. Evolutionary theory suggests a number of ways in which communication systems can be made stable. In particular, when verification of the veracity of a signal is likely to be available, then low-cost signaling can be kept stable by reputation effects; but if verification is not possible, then costly signals (called handicaps) will be used instead. (Handicaps are signals that are unnecessarily expensive for the signaler, but where the expense acts as a guarantee. Conspicuous consumption, such as very expensive jewelry, is often suggested as an example, since it reveals something about the wealth of its owner.) I will test this hypothesis in collaboration with Prof. Stuart West, an evolutionary biologist at the U. of Oxford.This research is highly interdisciplinary. Therefore once I have completed the experimental research, I will integrate my findings with current theories about a range of topics. In particular, I anticipate that my research will resolve a number of debates about the origins of human language, and help to explain why only humans have such an open-ended, flexible communication system. Because of the broad, general interest of such topics, I will, in addition to the usual academic channels, present my research and findings at science festivals, present and discuss them on a purpose-built website, and write summary articles for popular yet serious outlets such as New Scientist and Scientific American.