Edit Book :: Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach
2004
Theoretical and Methodological Tools for Comparison and Evolutionary Modeling of Communication SystemsPDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 3-12, 2004
On Reading Signs: Some Differences between Us and the OthersPDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 15-30, 2004
If there are certain kinds of signs that an animal cannot learn to interpret, that might be for any of a number of reasons. It might be, first, because the animal cannot discriminate the signs from one another. For example, although human babies learn to discriminate human ...
Primitive Content, Translation, and the Emergence of Meaning in Animal Communication
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 31-48, 2004
Historically, most philosophers of the Western tradition have regarded human beings as being dramatically different from" mere" animals, particularly with regard to our mental and social livesrepresentation and communication. On this, both ancient Greek thought and ...
Underpinnings for a Theory of Communicative Evolution
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 49-66, 2004
In order for the study of communication evolution to proceed systematically, we need to determine a set of features in terms of which comparison can be made across species and across evolutionary time. I began working on such a framework in research on infant vocal ...
Social and Cultural Learning in the Evolution of Human CommunicationPDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 69-90, 2004
Form: The repertoire of speech sounds used in human language is extraordinarily complex. It relies on an articulatory apparatus which needs to be controlled very fast and at a very fine-grained level. It requires the real-time processing of structured sounds despite noise and ...MORE ⇓
Form: The repertoire of speech sounds used in human language is extraordinarily complex. It relies on an articulatory apparatus which needs to be controlled very fast and at a very fine-grained level. It requires the real-time processing of structured sounds despite noise and ...
The Role of Learning and Development in Language Evolution: A Connectionist PerspectivePDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 91-109, 2004
Much ink has been spilled arguing over the idea that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. The discussions typically center on whether developmental stages reflect different points in the evolution of some specific trait, mechanism, or morphological structure. For example, the ...
Repeated Patterns in Behavior and Other Biological Phenomena
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 111-128, 2004
7Repeated Patterns in Behavior and Other Biological Phenomena Magnus S. Magnusson Human
environments consist to a large extent of repeated spatiotemporal patterns which are typically
composed of simpler patterns. Most humans are thus surrounded by houses, streets, cars, ...
Social Processes in the Evolution of Complex Cognition and Communication
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 131-150, 2004
We readily accept many parallels between the behavior of ourselves and our nonhuman primate cousins. Chimpanzees, as well as lions and wolves, hunt cooperatively. Cultural behavior is evident in the differing patterns of tool use among chimpanzees, and no longer ...
Human Infant Crying as an Animal Communication System: Insights from an Assessment/Management ApproachPDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 151-170, 2004
At five weeks old, my normally happy first child became a fussy baby. About midday one day, he began to cry. After trying all of my standard calming techniques to no avail, in frustration I finally told him, loudly," STOP!" This stopped the crying, but I felt so guilty about ...MORE ⇓
At five weeks old, my normally happy first child became a fussy baby. About midday one day, he began to cry. After trying all of my standard calming techniques to no avail, in frustration I finally told him, loudly," STOP!" This stopped the crying, but I felt so guilty about yelling at ...
Evolution of Communication from an Avian Perspective
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 171-192, 2004
Many studies on the evolution of communication devolve into treatises on human language evolution, focusing on primates. If, however, we truly wish to develop models about communication, we must also consider systems phylogenetically removed from humans. I ...
Cephalopod Skin Displays: From Concealment to Communication
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 193-214, 2004
At first glance, the complex cephalopod skin display system, which Packard (1995) describes as a neuromuscular image generator, looks like the ultimate flexible sender system for visual communication. It is matched by conspecific receivers' high-acuity-lens ...
The Evolution of Language: From Signals to Symbols to System
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 217-236, 2004
Human natural languages are communicative systems, and the primary use of language is to communicate. The precise nature of the relationship between the communicative functions and the systemic properties of natural languages may be disputed, but what ...
Cooperation and the Evolution of Symbolic CommunicationPDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 237-256, 2004
Homo sapiens is the only species with a symbolic language. According to evolutionary theory, there should be some selective advantage that has fostered the development of language among humans. There are many proposals for such an evolutionary force. ...
Language, Music and Laughter in Evolutionary Perspective
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 257-274, 2004
Speech (and thus language) is unique to modern humans. The lack of comparative cases makes its origins and the selective forces favoring its evolution difficult to determine with any reliability. The result has been a plethora of rather speculative suggestions about the ...
Kin Selection and ``Mother Tongues'': A Neglected Component in Language Evolution
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 275-296, 2004
In a famous passage, JBS Haldane (1955) conveyed the seed of the idea of kin selection when he acknowledged the selective advantage of saving, at risk to his own life, drowning brothers or cousins, but not more distant relatives. In an odd turn for so insightful a ...
Language beyond Our Grasp: What Mirror Neurons Can, and Cannot, Do for the Evolution of LanguagePDF
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 297-313, 2004
And, I would add, we must also take care to analyze properly the nature of language itself. Several recent papers (Rizzolatti and Arbib, 1998; Arbib, 2001, 2002) suggest that the discovery of mirror neurons helps us to understand in more detail how human language ...
How Far Is Language beyond Our Grasp? A Response to Hurford
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 315-322, 2004
Rizzolatti and Arbib (1998) developed the mirror system hypothesis (MSH) that mirror neurons (for grasping) offer a neural missing link in the evolutionary development of brain mechanisms supporting human language. Hurford (chapter 16 in this volume) grounds his ...
Directions for Research in Comparative Communication Systems
Evolution of Communication Systems: A Comparative Approach, pages 325-332, 2004
The multifaceted interaction that produced this volume suggests at least two broad realms where major new achievements are on the horizon. First, based in part on the discussions among the authors and on their writings, the goal of formulating a workable new ...