Referential pointing is a characteristically human behavior, which involves moving a finger through space to direct an addressee towards a desired mental state. Planning this type of action requires an interface between sensorimotor and conceptual abilities. A simple interface could supplement spatially-guided motor routines with communicative-ostensive cues. For instance, a pointing finger held still for an extended period of time could aid the addressee’s understanding, without altering the movement’s trajectory. A more complex interface would entail communicative knowledge penetrating the sensorimotor system and directly affecting pointing trajectories. We compare these two possibilities using motion analyses of referential pointing during multi-agent interactions. We observed that communicators produced ostensive cues that were sensitive to the communicative context. Crucially, we also observed pervasive adaptations to the pointing trajectories: they were tailored to the communicative context and to partner-specific information. These findings indicate that human referential pointing is planned and controlled on the basis of partner-specific knowledge, over and above the tagging of motor routines with ostensive cues.

doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04442-w, hdl.handle.net/1765/107380
ERIM Top-Core Articles
Scientific Reports
Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), Erasmus University

Hartmann, F., Murillo Oosterwijk, A.M., & Toni, I. (2017). Communicative knowledge pervasively influences sensorimotor computations. Scientific Reports, 7(4268), 1–12. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-04442-w