Lucy Wesson: Communication and Learning Lab at the University of Chicago, Week 3

Week Three at the Communication and Learning Lab

Week three at the C.A.L Lab has been slightly slower than the past two due to the fact that we are done with our first condition of the experiment! At the moment, we are trying to re-code the game to accommodate the new condition. That also means that we must find new photos of Tangrams to pair together.

These are some of the Tangrams we used in the first condition.

In the previous condition, the photos shown to the children and their parents were intentionally very different. To decide which Tangrams were most unlike another, the lab needed to send the photos to a third party after having organized them by most to least alike.

The third party then confirmed, and sent us 40 pairs of Tangrams that were most unalike. However, the upcoming condition now requires that we pair together Tangrams that look similar to one another to see if that elicits more informative conversation, and forces more conversational pacts to be made. Hypothetically, when the images are very similar to one another, the participants may be forced to use more specific language which may lead to a conversational pact. This conversational pact will be especially helpful later on when the image is shown again, as it may be used as shorthand to distinguish the desired tangram from other alike pictures.

Our ability to create these types of pacts is arguably one of the most important functions of human language. Without our ability to have these shared referents, communication would become vastly complicated as a shared subject of conversation would never fully be established.  This function of language has clear evolutionary advantages, and probably stemmed from our need to communicate effectively with one another in order to survive. The implicit negotiations that take place in individual conversations facilitate effective and meaningful communication between humankind.

How freaking cool is that?

In other news, as Chicago was being hit with a slight heatwave guess who got to walk seven miles to put up flyers? We went to Lincoln Park– probably the coolest neighborhood in all of Chicago. It’s spunky, yet modern, and has the BEST ice cream shop in all the land: Jennie’s. The cool lavender ice cream really helped get me through the day as I felt like my body was being sacrificed to the insufferable heat. (I know I’m being dramatic, but I still feel that it’s warranted due to the fact that Telluride never gets past 85 degrees).

And as the Friday sun slowly set, slightly cooling off the sweltering city, I took the train to go meet my mom. We ate dinner and giggled all night as we explored the city before crashing in her hotel room. It was a great escape before I had to creep back to Hyde Park to start writing my first round of college essays. What a great way to spend your free-time huh?

Even with the slightly slower days, I find myself learning an incredible amount about referential communication and other topics I love. This internship is expanding my mind more than I ever could have anticipated, and I can not wait to see what the future week(s) hold!