LECTURE 2- GESTURING

Question 1

WHY DO HUMANS gesture?

Answer 1

to direct attention
draw ppts awareness to something

Humans gesture to- direct the attention of a recipient spatially to something in the immediate perceptual environment (Deictically)- and to direct the imagination of a recipient to something that, typically, Is not in the immediate perceptual environment by behaviourally stimulating an action, relation, or object (Iconically)

pointing an pantomiming are both uncoded and Unconventionalised ways of communicating

Question 2

pointing

Answer 2

natural gestures such as pointing are a form of uncoded communication
done to inform and request
it is an attention directing gesture

involves the split between the referential intention and the social intention, as the communicator attempts to direct speech

pointing gestures are similar to great ape attention gestures- they both aimed at directing attention to something.
However human pointing is aimed at following the direction/gaze of the point. Ape attention gestures are aimed at attending to the noise or touches

Question 3

iconic gestures

Answer 3

pantomiming
Culturally universal

Enact an action, to induce the recipient to imagine a corresponding real action or relationship

Still need common ground

iconic gestures do not rely on language

human iconic gestures are similar to great ape intention gestures in that they are both actions but not real actions

Question 4

the cooperation model

Answer 4

Cognitive skills for creating common ground= context is important. Common ground

Common ground based on 3 things:

Joint attention (immediate perceptual environment)

Top-down processes e.g. pursuing a shared goal together and so know together that we are focusing on certain things relevant to our goal. Bottom up processes e.g. both hear a loud noise, and know together that we did

Common cultural knowledge

When common ground is high the overt expression of either motive or referent mat be totally eliminated, without diminishing the message at all

Question 5

the basic human communication motives

Answer 5

Requesting/ individual imperative’s- can range from orders to polite requests

Wanting to offer help/informative/ infomring: wanting to tell the other something because you think it will help

Expressive/sharing motive: wanting to share feelings and attitudes about things with others (occurs ontogenetically quite early in infants)