PSYC 205 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Bonobo, American Sign Language, Path Integration
28 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
The transmission of information between individuals occurs through communicative signals produced by a sender to a receiver. Information can also be transmitted in a passive manner: aposematism- an unpalatable species has colouration, odors, or warning sounds that signal their danger to potential predators. For successful communication to occur, the receiver requires an appropriate perceptual system to process the signal (ie. elephants send, receive, and respond to low frequency vocalizations that are out of the human perceptual range) Eavesdropping- passive listening by other members of a group/ species. Human communication is characterized by an unlimited signal set. Humans use words in many contexts, on a broad range of topics spanning past, present, and future. When a new word is needed, one is created: language is open-ended. Based on observation, most animals have a limited signal set- animals communicate with a small number of signals in a small number of contexts (food, aggression, competition, sex, and danger from predators).
