2025/04/29 by Yiling Yun, Yun, Yiling, S. V. Stacy +3
Computer Science · Neuroscience · Social Sciences · #Applications (stat.AP) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Language and cultural evolution #Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism #Speech and dialogue systems
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.21224
openalex publication_date 2025/04/29 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Humans are able to communicate in sophisticated ways with only sparse signals, especially when cooperating. Two parallel theoretical perspectives on cooperative communication emphasize pragmatic reasoning and joint utility mechanisms to help solve ambiguity. For the current study, we collected behavioral data which tested how humans select ambiguous signals in a cooperative grid world task. The results provide support for a joint utility reasoning mechanism. We then compared human strategies to predictions from Rational Speech Acts (RSA), an established model of language pragmatics.