Communication is a Cognitive Process

The overriding thesis of Communication is a Cognitive Process is that the study of communication as a research domain needs to take cognition into account. If so, then the research of cognitive scientists is relevant to communication scholars. Why is it, then, that only a few communication departments incorporate cognitive science research into their curricula?

A Cognitive Science Perspective on the Study of Communication
(being revised)

Introductions to cognitive science do not include the study of communication among the disciplines that form its network of researchers. The "disciplines" mentioned are usually cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, and anthropology. However, as Stenning, Lascarides, and Calder note: "There is not much in the way of human doings that does not involve communication, or cannot be construed as communication—very little that can be understood without understanding some communication." The question thus arises: can communication scholars contribute to research on the mind? The thesis of Communication as a Cognitive Science is that scince cognitive scientists recognize the need to study the mind as it issituated in experience, the fact that communication research investigates communicative situations makes it an ideal contributor to CS.

Configuring as a Mode of Communication:
The Art of Understanding Persons Unlike Us

Normally, persons communicate with one another in the context of shared codes and experiences.  When people differ from each other because they CANNOT share experiences, this "gap" in their relationship often occasions serious misunderstandings.  There are numerous situations in which one person in attempting to interpret another person would benefit if this gap could be bridged.  Indeed, every culture has a repertoire of "empathetic" communication strategies by which members of that culture attempt to bridge gaps in experience that present themselves in interpersonal relations with each other.  Nonetheless, in many situations, persons with different experiences are considered as "other" or "foreign," obviating attempts to understand them. In instances where persons cannot share experiences, either of two conditions usually pertains: (1) one of the persons has not yet had experiences that would enable communication in certain situations, or (2) one of the persons CANNOT actually have the experiences that would enable communication in certain situations.  Type 1 is a TYPICAL null experience and occurs frequently. Type 2 is a RADICAL null experience and occurs in specific racial, gendered, generational, or specialized communications.

Configural Discourse Analysis and Conceptual Blending

These essays, written between 2004 and 2010, focus on different aspects of Configural Discourse Analysis (CfDA)