How can some strokes of the hand form the mental image of a box standing on a table so that another person can almost see it? After the successful opening conference with its very dense program and highly stimulating talks the research group, at this time ten resident fellows, took up work by reflecting on the observation of a seemingly simple everyday communication situation that nevertheless entails the central problems of the research topic. If we could manage to understand step by step how this little scene of information transfer works, so the idea behind this approach, we would understand some part of the whole story.
To overcome the typical difficulties of interdisciplinary research the group decided to first look together at data videos showing examples of embodied communication to discuss them from the individual perspectives of the scientists from different fields. This is meant to learn about the different approaches to interpret data, about the different methods that are used, and the different kinds of explanations that they accept in their fields.
After this initiation the group looked back to the opening conference to distill the hot topics which were raised and the most important questions that were brought up. Among those topics were the motor theory of representation, the role of the mirror system, turn-taking in communication, the role of facial displays, and the role that human-like robots play in understanding human communication and in our future world. In the following discussions we formed several 'mini projects' which will be followed up by subgroups of fellows. These mini projects encompass questions such as how we proceed from gestures to a mental image, the details of feedback in communication, rhythm in speech and gesture, and how to model these aspects in an artificial agent.
The group also began to shape the program for the workshop in January 2006 on the phylo- and ontogenesis of communication and understanding.
All these activities are framed by daily coffee-meetings in the morning, various social activities in the evening, and trips to regional highlights like Tierpark Olderdissen and Externsteine.
[December 2005]
