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Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems 2008 pp 77–93Cite as

On Building Meaning: A Biologically-Inspired Experiment on Symbol-Based Communication

Part of the Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology book series (AEMB,volume 657)

Abstract

The use of an appropriate set of empirical and theoretical constraints to guide the construction of synthetic experiments leads to a better understanding of the natural phenomena under study, and allows for a greater understanding of the experimental results. We begin this chapter with a description of a general approach for conducting experiments with artificial creatures within a synthetic ethological context. Next, we describe how this approach was used to build a computational experiment regarding the emergence of self-organized symbols. Our experiment simulated a community of artificial creatures undergoing complex intra and inter-specific interactions in which meaning evolved over time, from a tabula rasa repertoire of random alarm-calls to a specific set of optimal referential alarm-calls. To design different kinds of creatures as well as innanimate elements of the environment, we applied theoretical constraints from the Peircean philosophy of sign and empirical constraints from neuroethology. Our results suggest that the constraints chosen were both necessary and sufficient to produce symbolic communication.

Keywords

  • Communication
  • Meaning
  • Semiosis
  • Symbol process
  • Self-organization
  • Emergence
  • Computer simulation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The idea of communication/language as a self-organizing process have been presented also by other authors, e.g. (Steels 2003, Keller 1994).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by FAPESB, CNPq and AASDAP.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Exact Sciences, State University of Feira de Santana, Brazil, Feira de Santana

    Angelo Loula

  2. Department of Computer Engineering and Industrial Automation, FEEC, State University of Campinas, Brazil, Campinas

    Angelo Loula & Ricardo Gudwin

  3. Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal (ELS-IINN), Brazil, Natal

    Sidarta Ribeiro

  4. Department of Neuroscience, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, Natal

    Sidarta Ribeiro

  5. Research Group on Cognitive Science and Semiotics, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, UFJF, Brazil, Juiz de Fora

    João Queiroz

Authors
  1. Angelo Loula
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  2. Ricardo Gudwin
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  3. Sidarta Ribeiro
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  4. João Queiroz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to João Queiroz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Computing Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom

    Amir Hussain

  2. Technology & Medicine, Imperial College of Science,, Exhibition Rd., London, SW7 2BT, United Kingdom

    Igor Aleksander

  3. Dept. Computing Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom

    Leslie S. Smith

  4. Centro Tecnológico, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Av. dos Portugueses s/n, São Luís, 65080-040, Brazil

    Allan Kardec Barros

  5. Dept. Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, United Kingdom

    Ron Chrisley

  6. Dept. Computing Science and Mathematics, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, United Kingdom

    Vassilis Cutsuridis

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Loula, A., Gudwin, R., Ribeiro, S., Queiroz, J. (2010). On Building Meaning: A Biologically-Inspired Experiment on Symbol-Based Communication. In: Hussain, A., Aleksander, I., Smith, L., Barros, A., Chrisley, R., Cutsuridis, V. (eds) Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems 2008. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 657. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79100-5_5

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