Article published in:
Symbol GroundingEdited by Tony Belpaeme, Stephen J. Cowley and Karl F. MacDorman
[Interaction Studies 8:1] 2007
► pp. 83–104
How human infants deal with symbol grounding
Stephen J. Cowley | School of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire and University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Taking a distributed view of language, this paper naturalizes symbol grounding. Learning to talk is traced to — not categorizing speech sounds — but events that shape the rise of human-style autonomy. On the extended symbol hypothesis, this happens as babies integrate micro-activity with slow and deliberate adult action. As they discover social norms, intrinsic motive formation enables them to reshape co-action. Because infants link affect to contingencies, dyads develop norm-referenced routines. Over time, infant doings become analysis amenable. The caregiver of a nine-month-old may, for example, prompt the baby to fetch objects. Once she concludes that the baby uses ‘words’ to understand what she says, the infant can use this belief in orienting to more abstract contingencies. New cognitive powers will develop as the baby learns to act in ways that are consistent with a caregiver’s false belief that her baby uses ‘words.’
Keywords: epigenetic robotics, intersubjectivity, language acquisition, symbol grounding, agency, distributed cognition, distributed language, early child development
Published online: 13 June 2007
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.8.1.06cow
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.8.1.06cow
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