Signals: Get the Message at L2

Function & Name

Signal is the THEE-name for: «a specific stimulus or pattern of stimuli that conveys a specific unambiguous message.»

Signals differ from stimuli in that they create content. The term «message» refers to the content part of the communication. Many (perhaps most) messages are not unambiguous, but then they are not produced purely by signals.

Choice of Formal Name

The names in these next few levels of the Primary Hierarchy are difficult because all basic terms within the field of communication are used in a confusing way e.g. WordNet 3.0 uses signal and sign interchangeably. In a widely used undergraduate text on communication theory I used the 6th Edition of: Em Griffin: A First Look at Communication Theory. 2006, McGraw Hill, New York. Note that this book is regularly revised and an 8th Edition is due 2011. , signal only appears by reference to machine information processing (as in telephone-line transmission). Semiology focuses on signs and symbols rather than signals.

Biologists use the proposed THEE-name when they refer to signaling in relation to inter-cellular information transmission. C.S. Peirce used the term «index» to refer to a fixed connection i.e. the stimulus or pattern of stimuli indicates something specific and so "index" is a possible alternative name for "signal-L2".

Visit the Hub for more on choosing names  for THEE entities.

Properties

Because the message is embedded, Signals-L2 have to be learned in a way that Stimuli-L1 cannot be and do not need to be.

So  signals-L2 must be prearranged at a social-public level or a private-intimate level. Once signaling rules are agreed and learned, a person must adhere to them when making or sending a signal-L2.

If prearrangement of the content has not occurred, the sender has control over sending the signal-message, but no control over its reception and comprehension. For comprehension, the recipient must be willing and able:

• to notice the signal-L2;
• to apply the appropriate rule to get the content intrinsic to the  signal-L2.

In a signal-L2, the possibility of deception emerges e.g. via use of secret signals, or pretending not to know the signal.

Examples:

Errors & Failure

As L2-Signals depend wholly on L1-Stimuli, L1-errors may occur:

In sending, signals for different messages may be too similar for easy discrimination.

In reception, inattention or ignoring a signal is possible. A famous example is Lord Nelson: In 1801 at the Battle of Copenhagen, he put up the telescope to his blind eye so as not to see the flag signal that gave him permission to retreat.

Sending 

Signals may lead to an incorrect response if the rules of translation into a message have been changed but not notified &/or re-taught. In the case of physical signals, like a signpost, renewal may be required periodically. As well as obsolescence, errors may result from illegibility: either deliberate (graffiti, vandalism, ill-intention, accidental damage &c.) or through natural processes (paint fading, decay, vegetation overgrowth &c.)

Reception

Specific L2-Signal problems may be false positives i.e. regarding a stimulus or pattern as a signal even if it is not intended as such; or false negatives i.e. not recognizing a  signal because of:

• Contradictory signals that confuse. Example: A wave from one person at a table signaling "join our small group" might be contradicted by others at the table deliberately ignoring the person addressed.
• Ignorance of the rules/conventions within a particular group.

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• Signals-L2 are too restrictive for communication: something more open is found at the next level.

Originally posted: 28-Mar-2011; Last updated 25-Sep-2011.