ABSTRACT
How do inherently asymmetric interlocutors rapidly arrive at mutually understood mental constructs from ambiguous signals that are referentially contingent on current communicative circumstances? This question is at the core of the neurosemiotic agenda. This chapter introduces joint epistemic engineering, an account of cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms supporting the construal of signs and meanings during interactive human communication. The basic insight is that interlocutors use multi-layered signals as a tool to simultaneously probe, align, and shape their conceptual structures of the interaction, constructing a shared and situated source of interpretational constraints on the meaning of those signals. We review recent empirical observations on the neural implementation of joint epistemic engineering, and show the potential of this neurosemiotic account for understanding disorders of human communication, as seen, for example, in autism spectrum disorder.
