How a smartphone app is contributing to language evolution research
The ‘Color Game’ app has been developed by scientists with the aim of examining how we can communicate across the barriers of language with images instead of sounds.
One player guides another to pick a target colour within a set of four, through the use of black and white symbols. The challenge is to establish shared significance of these symbols between the players. The app aims to study six hypotheses related to the formation of synthetic languages, and to their use for referential communications. Are smartphone apps a new way in which researchers can interact with vast numbers of participants in a more normal environment?
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