Oudeyer, Pierre-Yves, Self-Organization in the Evolution of Speech. Oxford University Press

摘要

Self-organization as a concept and a framework has enor-mous implications for the study of complex systems. Self-organizing behavior often emerges from local interactions among agents. Therefore, complex systems, being interac-tions of several diverse structures at local levels, are studied from a vantage point of self-organization. For example the evolution and workings of the human brain and the emer-gence of language, being complex structures, can be studied following principles of self-organization. These principles that guide complex organized behavior and account for emergent properties such as intelligence or anticipatory behavior (mental states) can be deciphered if we closely observe different natural systems, for example the way sand dunes are organized or spots on the skin of a leopard. How-ever, what is the implication of principles of self-organiza-tion when someone sets himself the task of understanding the evolution of language and particularly speech?