Language Evolution and Computation Bibliography

The paper addresses the question how a group of physically embodied robotic agents may origi- nate meaning and language through adaptive language games. The main principles underlying the approach are sketched as well as the steps needed to implement these principles on physical agents. Some experimen- tal results based on this implementation are presented.

Communication signals in many animal species (including humans) show a surprising amount of variety both across time and at any one instant in a population. Traditional accounts and simulation models of the evolution of communication offer little explanation of this diversity. Sexual selection of signals used to attract mates, and the coevolving preferences used to judge those signals, can instead provide a convincing mechanism. Here we demonstrate that a wide variety of ``songs'' can evolve when male organisms sing their songs to females who judge each male's output and decide whether or not to mate with him based on their own coevolved aesthetics. Evolved variety and rate of innovation are greatest when females combine inherited song preferences with a desire to be surprised. If females choose mates from a small pool of candidates, diversity and rate of change are also increased. Such diversity of communication signals may have implications for the evolution of brains as well.