ABSTRACT
There are two fundamental questions about how human communication works. The first of these is how people are able to give meaning to the patterns of light, sound, and thermal energy that other people give off. These patterns of energy that impinge on our senses include the sights and sounds that make up the verbal and nonverbal messages we receive from others and the actions in which others are engaged; they also include information provided by the physical and social context within which these verbal and nonverbal messages and actions originate. When we speak with others face-to-face, we not only hear what they say, we see what they are doing and how they are responding to others in the situation, including ourselves. The problem for us, as perceivers of all of these inputs, is to make sense out of them. What enables us to understand others' words and actions?
