Grand Challenge — Experimental Semiotics

This session discussed experimental semiotics as a methodological framework for studying interaction and communication in controlled lab settings, with presentations from two long-time MOSAIC members and commentary from two invited discussants.

Experimental Semiotics: Studying the building blocks of communication in the lab (Jonas Nölle)

Experimental Semiotics (ES) investigates how novel semiotic systems emerge in interactive lab games. By observing people ground communication from scratch, it exposes the fundamental principles of semiosis. Based on a recent review, I present the main experimental paradigms commonly used to identify the pressures and mechanisms shaping the structure of communication systems, and discuss key findings from the last 20 years — including some of the building blocks of language, and cultural and cognitive factors. I close with future directions for ES, including VR paradigms and neural approaches to studying the social, cognitive, and biological components of human communication.

Devil is in the dynamics: continuous co-construction of shared conceptual space (Rui Liu)

During communication, we continuously infer and adjust to each other’s changing mental states. Time is an essential dimension in which such interpersonal exchange unfolds. I emphasise the theoretical and empirical relevance of studying communication dynamics, and show two examples of how experimental semiotic games provide a trackable means of unpacking the temporal dynamics of communication.