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Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
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Visual bodily signals as core devices for coordinating minds in interaction.

Judith Holler1,2

  • 1Max-Planck-Institut für Psycholinguistik, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

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Summary

Visual bodily signals are crucial for human communication, enabling complex coordination beyond spoken language. This multimodal system, including gestures and expressions, offers flexibility and adaptability, potentially originating from our shared ancestors with apes.

Keywords:
coordinationgesturelanguage evolutionpragmaticsprecursorsvisual bodily signals

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Linguistics
  • Primatology

Background:

  • Human communication is a complex, multimodal system.
  • Visual bodily signals play a significant role in this system.
  • The evolution of language is often linked to spoken language, but this view is challenged.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight the core role of visual bodily signals in human communication and mind coordination.
  • To explore how these signals contribute to pragmatic processes beyond referential meaning.
  • To investigate the evolutionary origins of these communicative capacities.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of multimodal communication, including non-iconic signals and signal combinations.
  • Examination of kinematic modulations and interaction-bound meaning.
  • Comparative approach considering precursors in the last common ancestor with great apes.

Main Results:

  • Visual bodily signals are fundamental to human communication, offering flexibility and adaptability.
  • These signals contribute significantly to pragmatic processes, extending beyond iconic representations.
  • Evidence suggests precursors to these capacities existed in early hominids.

Conclusions:

  • The human communication system is deeply multimodal, with visual signals being central.
  • The flexibility and adaptability of this system are key to its survival and evolution.
  • Understanding these visual signals provides insights into the human 'interaction engine'.