Experimental Semiotics: an Engine of Discovery for Understanding Human Communication

The recent growth of Experimental Semiotics (ES) offers us a new option to investigate human communication. We briefly introduce ES, presenting results from three themes of research which emerged within it. Then we illustrate the contribution ES can make to the investigation of human communication systems, particularly in comparison with the other existing options. This comparison highlights how ES can provide an engine of discovery for understanding human communication. In fact, in complementing the other options, ES offers us unique opportunities to test assumptions about communicative behavior, both through the experimenters’ planned manipulations and through the unexpected behaviors humans exhibit in experimental settings. We provide three examples of such opportunities, one from each of the three research themes we present.