Language and social understanding are key components of how humans communicate. But what is the relationship between these two abilities? A recent review published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences by researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics (MPI) in Nijmegen and Yale University illustrates how language and social cognition work together in real time. The authors introduce a new ‘mind-tracking’ model of communication, emphasizing the crucial role that small social interactions play in both producing and understanding language.
Effective communication requires individuals to understand what others are thinking. For instance, if your host mentions that ‘it’s getting dark outside,’ you might interpret it as a cue for you to leave. The ability to grasp others’ beliefs, desires, and intentions—known as social cognition—is essential for interpreting such indirect language. Traditionally, it was believed that language and social cognition interacted primarily at the level of entire sentences.
“While these broader processes are central to human communication, we believe that the finer details at the word level are equally important,” states Paula Rubio-Fernández from MPI, who is a senior investigator and co-author of the study. “Communication is rich with tiny social interactions that occur during both the production and understanding of language, involving social cognition in real time. The relationship between language and social cognition in human communication is more interconnected and widespread than previously recognized.”
Common examples of these social micro-processes include the choice of articles based on whether we are addressing something familiar or new to the listener (like saying ‘We bought the house’ versus ‘We bought a house’) or selecting demonstratives (such as ‘this cup’ or ‘that cup’) to direct the listener’s attention to what we mean.
“Recent developments in computational models of social cognition, including our own work, support this perspective, enabling us to simulate the core cognitive processes reflected in others’ minds. Our research expands on the traditional understanding of the interplay between language and social cognition,” concludes Rubio-Fernández. “We intend to advance this research by examining referential communication in more natural, multimodal interactions, paying attention not only to spoken and signed language, but also to gaze and gestures.”
