Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam School of Management, Accounting and Control, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2017 Jun 27;7(1):4268. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-04442-w.
Referential pointing is a characteristically human behavior, which involves moving a finger through space to direct an addressee towards a desired mental state. Planning this type of action requires an interface between sensorimotor and conceptual abilities. A simple interface could supplement spatially-guided motor routines with communicative-ostensive cues. For instance, a pointing finger held still for an extended period of time could aid the addressee's understanding, without altering the movement's trajectory. A more complex interface would entail communicative knowledge penetrating the sensorimotor system and directly affecting pointing trajectories. We compare these two possibilities using motion analyses of referential pointing during multi-agent interactions. We observed that communicators produced ostensive cues that were sensitive to the communicative context. Crucially, we also observed pervasive adaptations to the pointing trajectories: they were tailored to the communicative context and to partner-specific information. These findings indicate that human referential pointing is planned and controlled on the basis of partner-specific knowledge, over and above the tagging of motor routines with ostensive cues.
指涉指向是一种典型的人类行为，它涉及通过空间移动手指，引导听话者进入期望的心理状态。规划这种类型的动作需要在感觉运动和概念能力之间建立接口。一个简单的接口可以用交际性的提示来补充空间引导的运动例程。例如，长时间保持静止的指示手指可以帮助听话者理解，而不会改变运动轨迹。更复杂的接口将需要交际知识渗透到感觉运动系统，并直接影响指向轨迹。我们使用多主体交互过程中的指涉指向的运动分析来比较这两种可能性。我们观察到，交际者产生了对交际语境敏感的提示性线索。至关重要的是，我们还观察到指向轨迹的普遍适应性：它们是根据交际语境和特定伙伴的信息量身定制的。这些发现表明，人类的指涉指向是基于特定于伙伴的知识来计划和控制的，而不仅仅是用提示性线索标记运动例程。
