School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 15;8(8):e71781. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071781. eCollection 2013.
This study examines the intergenerational transfer of human communication systems. It tests if human communication systems evolve to be easy to learn or easy to use (or both), and how population size affects learnability and usability. Using an experimental-semiotic task, we find that human communication systems evolve to be easier to use (production efficiency and reproduction fidelity), but harder to learn (identification accuracy) for a second generation of naïve participants. Thus, usability trumps learnability. In addition, the communication systems that evolve in larger populations exhibit distinct advantages over those that evolve in smaller populations: the learnability loss (from the Initial signs) is more muted and the usability benefits are more pronounced. The usability benefits for human communication systems that evolve in a small and large population is explained through guided variation reducing sign complexity. The enhanced performance of the communication systems that evolve in larger populations is explained by the operation of a content bias acting on the larger pool of competing signs. The content bias selects for information-efficient iconic signs that aid learnability and enhance usability.
本研究考察了人类沟通系统的代际传递。它检验了人类沟通系统是否朝着易于学习或易于使用（或两者兼而有之）的方向进化，以及人口规模如何影响可学习性和可用性。通过一项实验符号学任务，我们发现人类沟通系统朝着更容易使用（生产效率和再现保真度）的方向进化，但对于第二代天真参与者来说，学习起来却更难（识别准确性）。因此，可用性优于可学习性。此外，在更大的群体中进化的沟通系统比在较小的群体中进化的沟通系统具有明显的优势：进化过程中可学习性的损失（从初始符号开始）较小，可用性的优势更为明显。通过引导变异减少符号复杂性，解释了在小群体和大群体中进化的人类沟通系统的可用性优势。在更大的群体中进化的沟通系统的增强性能可以通过对更大的竞争符号池起作用的内容偏向来解释。内容偏向选择信息高效的象似符号，这些符号有助于学习和提高可用性。
