MINDSHARING | Human communication as joint epistemic engineering

Summary
Imagine ordering a drink at a diner, pointing at an empty glass as an attentive waiter passes by. How did you select that particular gesture, and how could the waiter possibly interpret it as you intended? As any other signal we use to communicate daily, that gesture is highly ambiguous outside its context of use. How can human communication work by using referentially flexible and contextually dependent signals? MINDSHARING argues that interlocutors are communicatively effective because they jointly control their interaction-specific shared context.
MINDSHARING integrates computational, developmental, and cognitive neuroscience to understand how that control is algorithmically defined, culturally acquired, and neurally implemented.
First, using context-sensitive neural networks, MINDSHARING identifies communicative control parameters during interactive multi-turn linguistic and non-verbal referential games, then assesses the value of those parameters as potential communicative universals across worldwide cultures. Second, using prospective longitudinal studies, MINDSHARING identifies the socio-cultural experiences that influence the acquisition of communicative abilities during ontogenetic development. Third, using concurrent brain stimulation and imaging in communicating dyads, MINDSHARING tracks and perturbs the neural dynamics of communicative control parameters as dyads continuously adjust their shared context to novel communicative challenges.
MINDSHARING provides a novel causal account of a foundational element of human society, the ability to communicate with referentially flexible signals. MINDSHARING brings computational, cultural, and neurocognitive explanations into the inter-personal space where communication is used and where it is learned. MINDSHARING will deliver what existing accounts have not delivered yet, multi-level causal explanations of the multi-level human ability to communicate with referentially flexible and contextually dependent signals.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101054559
Start date: 01-01-2023
End date: 31-12-2027
Total budget - Public funding: 2 499 105,00 Euro - 2 499 105,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

Imagine ordering a drink at a diner, pointing at an empty glass as an attentive waiter passes by. How did you select that particular gesture, and how could the waiter possibly interpret it as you intended? As any other signal we use to communicate daily, that gesture is highly ambiguous outside its context of use. How can human communication work by using referentially flexible and contextually dependent signals? MINDSHARING argues that interlocutors are communicatively effective because they jointly control their interaction-specific shared context.
MINDSHARING integrates computational, developmental, and cognitive neuroscience to understand how that control is algorithmically defined, culturally acquired, and neurally implemented.
First, using context-sensitive neural networks, MINDSHARING identifies communicative control parameters during interactive multi-turn linguistic and non-verbal referential games, then assesses the value of those parameters as potential communicative universals across worldwide cultures. Second, using prospective longitudinal studies, MINDSHARING identifies the socio-cultural experiences that influence the acquisition of communicative abilities during ontogenetic development. Third, using concurrent brain stimulation and imaging in communicating dyads, MINDSHARING tracks and perturbs the neural dynamics of communicative control parameters as dyads continuously adjust their shared context to novel communicative challenges.
MINDSHARING provides a novel causal account of a foundational element of human society, the ability to communicate with referentially flexible signals. MINDSHARING brings computational, cultural, and neurocognitive explanations into the inter-personal space where communication is used and where it is learned. MINDSHARING will deliver what existing accounts have not delivered yet, multi-level causal explanations of the multi-level human ability to communicate with referentially flexible and contextually dependent signals.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

ERC-2021-ADG

Update Date

09-02-2023
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Horizon Europe
HORIZON.1 Excellent Science
HORIZON.1.1 European Research Council (ERC)
HORIZON.1.1.0 Cross-cutting call topics
ERC-2021-ADG ERC ADVANCED GRANTS
HORIZON.1.1.1 Frontier science
ERC-2021-ADG ERC ADVANCED GRANTS