The influence of robot appearance on visual perspective taking: Testing the boundaries of the mere-appearance hypothesis.

Visual perspective taking (VPT) is an integral part of social interactions. While the mechanisms of VPT have been extensively explored in human-human interactions, only a handful of studies have investigated the mechanisms that enable humans to also take the perspective of robots. Previous work has proposed that human-like visual features trigger VPT (mere-appearance hypothesis).

Pragmatic interpretation and the production of ideographic codes.

We argue that the problem of ideographic codes stems from neither learnability nor standardization, but from a general issue of pragmatic interpretation. As ideographic codes increase in expressive power, in order to reduce ambiguity, they must become more detailed - such that production becomes more cumbersome, and requires greater artistry on the part of users, limiting their capacity for growth.

Metarepresentation, trust, and "unleashed expression".

Heintz & Scott-Phillips's account of human expression leaves a number of central issues unclear - not least, whether the lack of expression in nonhuman species is attributable to their lack of the relevant metarepresentational abilities, an absence of trust, or a consequence of other factors. In place of their view, we propose a gradualistic account of the origins of human expression.