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When Height Carries Weight: Communicating Hidden Object Properties for Joint Action
Title / Series / Name
Cognitive Science
Publication Volume
42
Publication Issue
6
Pages
Editors
Keywords
Joint action
Coordination
Social cognition
Coordination strategy
Experimental semiotics
Sensorimotor communication
Coordination
Social cognition
Coordination strategy
Experimental semiotics
Sensorimotor communication
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/14178
Abstract
In the absence of pre-established communicative conventions, people create novel communication systems to successfully coordinate their actions toward a joint goal. In this study, we address two types of such novel communication systems: sensorimotor communication, where the kinematics of instrumental actions are systematically modulated, versus symbolic communication. We ask which of the two systems co-actors preferentially create when aiming to communicate about hidden object properties such as weight. The results of three experiments consistently show that actors who knew the weight of an object transmitted this weight information to their uninformed co-actors by systematically modulating their instrumental actions, grasping objects of particular weights at particular heights. This preference for sensorimotor communication was reduced in a fourth experiment where co-actors could communicate with weight-related symbols. Our findings demonstrate that the use of sensorimotor communication extends beyond the communication of spatial locations to non-spatial, hidden object properties.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2018
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1111/cogs.12638