I start from the assumption that language usage such as speech, listening, reading, and writing, are skilled actions, i.e. they are based on and draw on skills. I see skills as the capability to perform some action, and to do so repeatedly with relatively little variation, i.e. not randomly.
My second starting assumption is that skilled action depends on and is caused by internal information representations and information processing. In other words, I focus on the neural impulses flowing to the muscles that control joint rotation that produce limb movements that generate the action. This basic causal chain applies to all vertebrates. Since the skeletons are fairly similar across vertebrates, we can assume basic similarities in low-level information processing, i.e. neurons to muscles to joint rotations to limb movements. Accordingly, I assume that, for any vertebrate, the capability to perform skilled physical actions is based on the creatures capability to do the corresponding and required information processing.
My third starting assumption is that sensory inputs produce internal information representations based on neural impulses and information processing. I assume that some sensory or perceptual information is obtained passively, such as the knowledge of 'down' from sensing gravity. I assume that other perceptual information, such as from vision, is active, i.e. integrated with, and the result of action (moving the head and eyes, and focusing.
Part 1 and part 2 explore low-level information representation and processing for basic action and basic perception.
My first theory is that low-level information processing for vertebrates can be modelled by analogous information processing for industrial process and production control, such as a Distributed Control System (DCS) or a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA). This theory is explored in Part 1 to Part 4.
My fourth starting assumption is that the internal information processing is separate from the 'real world' processes of force and momentum that cause the external consequences of the skilled action. This assumption is explored in Part 5.
My fifth starting assumption is that the information representations and the information processing capabilities evolved gradually and incrementally over many (or all) vertebrate species.
Rather than searching for historical evidence of the evolution of relevant information processing capabilities, I develop an abstract model of the mechanisms of evolution, again using an information-based perspective. The model focuses on passing information from parents to children (using DNA as a transfer medium). It also incorporates variation and selection from the perspective of information. The fifth assumption therefore implies that innate skills must be encoded in DNA. This model is presented and explored in Part 6.
The research, therefore, focuses on the nature of the information representations and the nature of the information processing methods underlying skills, and on how this information processing might have evolved over vertebrates. The initial focus is on innate skilled physical action and the integration of perception.
My second theory is that higher-level information processing for skilled actions that are several minutes in duration (rather than seconds), can be modelled with an 'inner language'. The theory claims that information processing utilizing such an inner language is required for all vertebrates that integrate visual perception into skilled action. The theory also claims that such an inner language is required for storing a large repertory of skills. It is also required for information processing related to action plans that involve prediction. This theory is explored in several sections, starting in Part x.
Later sections deal with the relationship between innate and learned skills.
Later sections deal with external or 'public' communication in order to coordinate actions. Again, the focus is on information passing and information processing by coordinating and cooperating individuals.
The methodology explores information requirements and explores feasibility models at a high level of abstraction and simplification.
Even with extensive simplification, it is still a complex story. I have tried to make the story more accessible with interactive simulation models.
I beg the reader's patience and forbearance as I work through all the pieces of this puzzle, at least as I understand them.