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micro-primer on entrainment

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I just wanted to emphasize that the basic idea here is a quite simple one:  Two loosely-coupled systems tend to get in sync, or otherwise into a steady state of interaction.  Historically the phenomenon was discovered when two grandfather clocks next to each other started beating in time.

Personally I learned about the concept in this article:

Iverson, J. M. & Thelen, E. (1999). Hand, mouth and brain. The dynamic emergence of speech and gesture. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6(11-12), pp. 19–40. (http://cspeech.ucd.ie/Fred/docs/IversonThelen.pdf)

This article seems quite apropos for the study of non-verbal communication -- indeed, it illustrates an originary link between non-verbal and verbal communication.

I'm finding the ideas from that article useful (at least at a metaphorical level) thinking about how to build AI systems that use language.  I'd assert that this will really take off when we see that it's not just about text mining -- which would correspond to our verbal communication -- but also about automatic generation of code that uses the text (corresponding to non-verbal communication).

In the world of standard human communication, I noted an interesting partial correlate:
Emoji assist in a peculiarly modern task: conveying emotional nuance in short, online utterances. - http://www.wired.com/2016/04/the-science-of-emoji/

A short video of the classic case is below; I'd also note this wiki page, which describes another case of coupling between biological systems and their environment.  Maybe this one helps explain why my sleep schedule is so weird!


Comments

  1. aridedMay 21, 2016 at 11:20 AM

    A more in-depth treatment of related topics: http://www.amazon.com/Sync-Order-Emerges-Universe-Nature/dp/0786887214

    ReplyDelete

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