Communicating Through Acting

Affording Communicative Intention in Pantomimes

Bibliographic Data

ID7150337
AuthorsSiyi Gong (0000-0001-7994-9734, Department of Communication University of California Los Angeles, corresponding author), Kaiwen Jiang (0009-0003-0483-693X, Department of Statistics & Data Science University of California Los Angeles), Jessica G Li (Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles), Jiahao Nick Li (University of California, Los Angeles), Mireille Karadanaian (Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles), Ziyi Meng (0000-0001-8294-8847, Department of Psychology University of California Los Angeles), Tao Gao (0000-0002-6998-7654, Department of Communication University of California Los Angeles)
Year2025
Volume49
Issue10
Pagese70120-e70120
Publication date2025-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCognitive Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0364-0213 • E-ISSN: 1551-6709
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/cogs.70120
PMID41037784
OpenAlexW4414763108
LanguageEN
References cited67

How do people intuitively recognize communicative intention in pantomimes, even though such actions kinematically resemble instrumental behaviors directed at changing the world? We focus on two alternative hypotheses: one posits that instrumental intention competes with communicative intention, such that the weaker the former, the stronger the latter; the other suggests that instrumental intention is nested within communicative intention, such that the presence of the former facilitates the latter. To test these hypotheses, we compiled a video dataset of action‐object pairs with varying frequencies in the English corpus. Using the concept of affordance, we qualitatively varied the degree to which a scene visually supports the execution of an action. Across two empirical experiments, we found a nonmonotonic relationship between affordance and communicative ratings: partial affordance, where the scene provides some support for an action's instrumental purpose, elicited the strongest perception of communicative intention. In contrast, full affordance or no affordance resulted in weaker interpretations of communicative intention. We also found that recognizing the instrumental components of pantomime‐like actions predicted a higher communicativeness rating. Our study, on top of confirming humans' ability to interpret novel pantomimes, reveals a novel mechanism of communicative intention: recognizing an instrumental goal and perceiving suboptimal conditions for achieving it together enhance the communicative signal. This work contributes toward an integrated theory of pantomimes, demonstrating how the rationality principle not only aids in distinguishing communicative intention but also supports the identification of instrumental content embedded within it

Affordance · Perception · Rationality · Action Observation and Synchronization · Child and Animal Learning Development · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition

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