Exploring the Evolution and Importance of Communication

Communication is a vital elemental that has played an important role in the survival and evolution of species, most importantly homo sapiens. Communication is the way by which one conveys a message. Early human primates most likely began to communicate by the use of body language and grunts; eventually leading to the formations of language. Scientists do not know when language arose but many hypotheses and theories have speculated on its origin. In the following experiments, we will explore the problems and advantages that arise when essential factors of communication and language are excluded.

Experiment #1 only allowed me to only communicate through hand gestures, facial gestures and body movements; no symbolic language whatsoever. This

Some people on the autism spectrum struggle in reading the subtleties of nonverbal language and may leave them misinterpreting what is being said. Another faction that struggles with nonverbal language is those with Amimia. Someone dealing with Amimia cannot comprehend hand gestures, even if previously understood. Our eyes tell us a lot about what is going on in our minds. For instance, closing our eyes for longer than a blink is our way of not letting our brain process anything threatening or undesirable. Another example is eye contact; when someone is lying, they usually look away to avoid eye contact. This poses as a problem, at times, in police interrogations where suspects who know about these nonverbal cues deliberately make longer eye contact to throw the investigator off. However, investigators have learned to observe other nonverbal cues, such as intonation, that is indicative of deception and to watch when normal eye contact becomes abnormal. Eye contact can also show love, hate, confidence, creepiness, or enthusiasm. Furthermore, another indicator of emotion is our posture; it can indicate whether we are tense, relaxed, interested, angry, or disgusted. Our posture can emphasize what our face/eyes are trying to convey such as a crossing your arms to show tense and pulling back to show disgust. Through nonverbal language we are also able to pick up on cues of deception, honesty, or love that serve more as an adaptive benefit. Eye contact is important in showing confidence—as well as posture— and in seeing if someone loves or hates us. This allows us to fend for ourselves more efficiently—by spotting danger—, obtain resources—if you are confident you will excel more and people will believe in you—and reproduce successfully—showing that you are trustworthy. Body language is distinctly different throughout