Ostensive Communication: Its Creation, Evolution, and Stability

交流是人类生活和社会的基本组成部分。我们的大部分交流都是明示的：当我们交流时，我们不仅要为我们想要交流的东西提供证据——我们也要为我们正在试图交流的事实提供证据。“手势”指的是在看手表时竖起的手指和用来吸引别人注意力的手指之间的区别。我们的明示能力意味着任何行为都有可能以交流的方式被使用。事实上，人类的很多交流都是含蓄的。它为许多人类机构提供了基础，包括语言和文化。它似乎是物种独有的，并且具有明显的进化优势。尽管如此，许多关于它的基本经验问题仍未得到解决。我将使用未来领导者计划来实验研究一系列关于显性通信系统如何运作的基本问题。例如，越来越多的研究调查了通信系统是如何从简单的单字状态进化到更稳定、更复杂的状态的。有很好的理论理由认为，如果这些通信系统用于明示通信，它们的发展方式将发生变化。我将检验这些建议。这条研究路线将阐明语言的起源和演变——语言是明示交流系统中最突出和最重要的一个例子。第二项研究将调查区分明示行为和其他类似行为的一般特征（例如，指向的例子——是什么区分了两个不同的点？）我将使用一个交互式的双人电脑游戏，我以前用它来研究通信系统是如何出现的。在一系列的实验中，我将以各种方式调整这款游戏，以确定使行为具体化的基本属性。例如：冒犯行为是不理性的吗？运动的缺失可以用在指代的方式吗？这些问题的答案将有助于确定哪些认知机制是明示交际所必需的，因此是语言起源的先决条件。最后，我还将探讨是什么过程使明示交流在进化上保持稳定。如果传播者不诚实，那么听众就应该忽略他们，系统就会崩溃，就像伊索寓言中狼来了的男孩那样。进化理论提出了许多使通信系统稳定的方法。特别是，当一个信号的真实性可能得到验证时，那么低成本的信号可以通过声誉效应保持稳定；但是，如果无法验证，那么将使用昂贵的信号（称为障碍）来代替。(障碍是对信号发送者来说不必要的昂贵信号，但这些费用可以作为保证。炫耀性消费，如非常昂贵的珠宝，经常被认为是一个例子，因为它揭示了它的主人的财富。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有这样一个开放的、灵活的交流系统。由于这些话题的广泛和普遍的兴趣，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《新科学家》和《科学美国人》等流行而严肃的媒体写总结文章。

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.