The stingless bees (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini) have evolved sophisticated communication systems that allow foragers to recruit nestmates to good resources. Over the past 50 years, a growing body of research has shown that foragers can communicate three-dimensional resource location, uncovered several potential communication mechanisms, and demonstrated new information transfer mechanisms....

The paper deals with how constraints on conceptual representations evolve through processes of knowledge sharing. We describe pragmatic settings of referential communication and provide a model of how names, nouns and adjectives emerge through a process of abstraction. In situations of referential communication, the contrast class – the set that intended referents must be distinguished from – i...

We investigated whether speakers’ referential communication benefits from an explicit focus on addressees’ perspective. Dyads took part in a referential communication game and were allocated to one of three experimental settings. Each of these settings elicited a different perspective mindset (none, selffocus, other-focus). In the two perspective settings, speakers were explicitly instructed to...

The spontaneous index finger and other referential pointing in 3 adult, laboratory chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) who have not received language training is reported. Of 256 total observed points, 254 were emitted in the presence of a human to objects in the environment; therefore, the points were communicative. Indicators of intentional communication used by the subjects included attention-gett...

Using referential context in language (e.g., saying “blue pen” when two different-colored pens are visible) makes communication efficient. But it is still unclear which general cognitive processes support the use of context in conversation. Research on pragmatic use in language implicates working memory and inhibitory control; however, no studies have shown evidence of a shared cognitive mechan...