A number of observations supporting this view suggest themselves. First, in primates, language has been preceded by millions of years by the faculty of vision, whose ability to deal with structured objects and scenes is no less impressive than the ability of homo sapiens to put them into words. Second, intricate and often strikingly ingenious mechanisms underlie communication in non-human species, from insects, through birds, to apes. Third, certain somatic mechanisms, such as the neurotransmitter infrastructure of the nervous system, or the signaling apparatus of the immune system, have evolved specifically to subserve communication needs whose complexity, on the microscopic scale, rivals that of the organism as a whole on the macroscopic scale.

The Cognitive Studies program is planning a series of events, including a seminar course, colloquia and debates, culminating in a Symposium, exploring the implications of the broad view of communication outlined above. It is expected that participation in these events will involve faculty and graduate students from a range of disciplines, including psychology, computer science, linguistics, animal behavior, and the social sciences.