Semiosis in cognitive systems

Abstract

This article deals with the problem of understanding semiosis and meaning in cognitive systems. Towards this aim, I argue for a cognitive approach, which is framed in terms of a non-standard two-factor account, and according to which both external and internal information are non-independent aspects of meaning, thus contributing as a whole in determining its nature. To overcome the difficulties stemming from standard approaches, I put forward a theoretical scheme that derives a cognitive level characterization of semiosis from the definition of a suitable representation space endowed with a set of transformations. In order to show the viability of this view, I discuss a computational implementation of such a theoretical scheme by a suitable neural network architecture. Numerical simulations show that similar representations are developed by different instances of the model as a consequence of facing a similar semantic task. This fact demonstrates the relevance of a cognitive level approach to the problem of the social construction of meaning and culture, thus allowing to model social and environmental influences and providing the building blocks of a socio-cognitive characterization of the notion of semiosphere.