Ostensive Communication: Its Creation, Evolution, and Stability

传播是人类生活和社会的基本组成部分。我们的大多数交流都是明示的：当我们交流时，我们不仅为我们打算交流的东西提供了证据，我们还为我们试图交流的事实提供了证据。表现力是指看手表时产生的副产品指尖和用来吸引别人注意力的指尖之间的区别。我们的表现力意味着任何行为都有可能被用来交流。事实上，许多人类交流都是明示的。它为许多人类机构提供了基础，包括语言和文化。它似乎是物种特有的，而且它具有明显的进化优势。尽管如此，关于它的许多基本的经验主义问题仍未得到解决。我将使用未来领导者方案来实验性地研究一系列关于明示通信系统如何运作的基本问题。例如，越来越多的研究调查通信系统如何从简单的单词状态演变到更稳定和复杂的状态。有充分的理论理由认为，如果这些交际系统被用于明示交际，那么它们的进化方式将会改变。我将测试这些建议。这一系列研究将阐明语言的起源和演变--明示交际系统中最显著和最重要的一个实例。第二系列研究将探讨明示行为与其他相似行为的一般特征(例如，指向的例子--是什么区分了这两个不同的点？)。我将使用一个互动的双人电脑游戏，我以前曾用它来研究通信系统是如何出现的。在一系列实验中，我将以各种方式调整这个游戏，以确定使行为明示的基本属性。例如：明示行为是不是非理性的行为？没有动作可以用明示的方式吗？对这些问题的回答将有助于确定哪些认知机制是明示交际所必需的，从而是语言起源的先决条件。最后，我还将调查哪些过程保持明示交际在进化上的稳定性。如果传播者是不诚实的，那么听众就应该忽视他们，这个系统就会崩溃，就像伊索寓言中的那个叫狼的男孩一样。进化论提出了许多使通信系统稳定的方法。特别是，当可能验证信号的准确性时，低成本的信令可以通过信誉效应保持稳定；但如果验证不可能，则将使用昂贵的信号(称为障碍)。(障碍是对信号员来说不必要的昂贵的信号，但费用起到了保证的作用。炫耀性消费，如非常昂贵的珠宝，经常被认为是一个例子，因为它揭示了所有者的财富。)我将与牛津大学的进化生物学家斯图尔特·韦斯特教授合作验证这一假设。这项研究是高度跨学科的。因此，一旦我完成了实验研究，我将把我的发现与当前关于一系列主题的理论结合起来。特别是，我预计我的研究将解决一些关于人类语言起源的争论，并有助于解释为什么只有人类才有这样一个开放的、灵活的交流系统。由于这些话题的广泛、普遍的兴趣，除了通常的学术渠道，我将在科学节上展示我的研究和发现，在一个专门建立的网站上展示和讨论它们，并为流行但严肃的媒体，如《新科学家》和《科学美国人》撰写总结文章。

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.