Expectation violations signal goals in novel human communication
Tatia Buidze1, Tobias Sommer2, Ke Zhao3,4
1Institute of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Eppendorf, Hamburg University, Hamburg, Germany. tatiabuidze@gmail.com.
Nature Communications
|February 26, 2025
Summary
People instinctively use physical world principles to communicate without shared language. Surprise, derived from movement kinetics, drives new communication strategies and predicts brain responses to expectation violations.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Neuroscience
- Computational Modeling
Background:
- Shared expectations are crucial for communication.
- Lack of common language presents a significant communication barrier.
- Instinctive reliance on universal principles may bridge linguistic divides.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how individuals develop communication strategies without shared language.
- To explore the role of physical world principles in novel communication.
- To model and validate the impact of expectancy violations and surprise in communication.
Main Methods:
- An experimental game where Senders convey messages using trajectories.
- Development of a computational model based on expectancy violations and movement kinetics priors.
- Analysis of participant-designed messages and Receiver's physiological/neuronal responses.
Main Results:
- The computational model accurately replicated participant-designed messages.
- Surprise, a core variable, was shown to predict Receiver's responses.
- Physiological and neuronal data indicated brain areas processing expectation violations.
Conclusions:
- Human communication is highly adaptable, even without common language.
- Principles from the physical world, particularly movement kinetics, facilitate novel communication.
- Surprise serves as a key mechanism for developing and understanding new communicative strategies.
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