ABSTRACT
Comparative studies would be facilitated if a framework existed in which different forms of behavior could be logically related. Such a framework could then be used to design experiments aimed at testing hypotheses about the evolution of language precursors. Originally proposed for classifying formal languages according to the computational power it takes to generate them, this approach provides a framework in which structured sequences can be described via their computational complexity. Context-free languages are more complex in terms of their structure and the computations needed to produce them than regular languages. Regular languages are either very fixed in their form or, if they have variations in form, this is limited to monotonous iteration. The computational modeling of behaviors allows us to classify them rationally, according to the sorts of rules that would allow a logical machine to perform them, or how much memory relevant algorithms would require carrying out such rules.
