Cognition and Communication

Abstract

Communication is a critical type of interaction for all social species, but especially so for humans. This is because it is a major means by which humans interact with one another and the main means by which cultural items propagate through a community. Humans, and likely only humans, have evolved a type of communication—ostensive communication—that has an essentially unlimited expressive potential. Canonical examples include points, shrugs, and grunts. The expressive potential of this type of communication is further enhanced by the use of words, grammars, and other communicative conventions that collectively comprise a language. The emergence of this type of communication likely had several important evolutionary consequences for the human animal.

Avoidance of cognitive efforts as a risk factor in interaction

“…An obvious reason for possible confusion in the course of interaction is that the aim of the speaker is unclear even to herself. People are not able to say everything that they wish to (Scott-Phillips, 2018; Wilson and Sperber, 2004). It is often the case that the speaker has only a fuzzy concept in her mind and has difficulties in putting it into verbal form.…”