Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University.
Erasmus Research Institute of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Cogn Sci. 2019 May;43(5):e12733. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12733.
A long-standing debate in the study of human communication centers on the degree to which communicators tune their communicative signals (e.g., speech, gestures) for specific addressees, as opposed to taking a neutral or egocentric perspective. This tuning, called recipient design, is known to occur under special conditions (e.g., when errors in communication need to be corrected), but several researchers have argued that it is not an intrinsic feature of human communication, because that would be computationally too demanding. In this study, we contribute to this debate by studying a simple communicative behavior, communicative pointing, under conditions of successful (error-free) communication. Using an information-theoretic measure, called legibility, we present evidence of recipient design in communicative pointing. The legibility effect is present early in the movement, suggesting that it is an intrinsic part of the communicative plan. Moreover, it is reliable only from the viewpoint of the addressee, suggesting that the motor plan is tuned to the addressee. These findings suggest that recipient design is an intrinsic feature of human communication.
在人类交流研究中，一个长期存在的争论焦点是交流者在多大程度上根据特定的对象来调整他们的交流信号（例如，言语、手势），而不是采取中立或自我中心的视角。这种被称为接收者设计的调整，已知会在特殊条件下发生（例如，当需要纠正沟通中的错误时），但一些研究人员认为它不是人类交流的固有特征，因为这在计算上要求太高。在这项研究中，我们通过研究在成功（无错误）沟通条件下的一种简单交流行为——交际性指点，为这场争论做出了贡献。我们使用一种信息论度量，称为易读性，为交际性指点中的接收者设计提供了证据。易读性效应在运动的早期就出现了，这表明它是交流计划的内在组成部分。此外，它只有从接收者的角度来看才是可靠的，这表明运动计划是针对接收者进行调整的。这些发现表明，接收者设计是人类交流的固有特征。
