Part 3: Communication Theory: Decoding-Encoding [Foundations of Communication Theory]

One necessary condition for human communication is some form of monitoring of the environment. The process of decoding-encoding may be broadly defined as monitoring that involves the translation of signals into messages and messages into signals. In the encoding phase, the source of communication translates a message into signals which are then transmitted to a receiver; in the decoding phase, the receiver of communication translates the transmitted signal back into message form. In actuality, how ever, encoding and decoding occur simultaneously. One process is the inverse of the other; the ways in which the human brain changes signals into messages are identical to the ways in which the brain changes messages into signals. Knowledge gained about one process is knowledge gained about the other. The essays in this section focus on processes which are vital constituents of decoding-encoding: perception, attention, and physiological activity.

The process of perception is central to any act of interpersonal communication. Yet despite the flood of re search on perception, there is neither a universally-accepted theory as to what is actually involved in perception nor is there general agreement as to how perceptual activities relate to human communication. One prominent theory, the transactional viewpoint, denies the independent existence of the receiver or his world. It stresses the role of learning in processes of perception and the primacy of perception as the basis of all social conduct. Hans loch and Malcolm S. MacLean, Jr. clarify the transactional theory of perception and some of its implications for audiovisual communication in their essay "Perception and Communication: A Transactional View." Magdalen D. Vernon in "Perception, Attention, and Consciousness" addresses the issue of human awareness.

Professor Magdalen synthesizes a large body of research on the influence of set, training, emotions, stimulus conditions and physiological mechanisms upon the kinds of "messages" which affect one's attention and consciousness.

All of us are aware of how difficult it is to listen efficiently to a speech on radio or TV if someone else is simultaneously giving us complex information on a matter of importance to us. In an instance such as this we selectively attend only to relevant parts of the stimuli impinging upon us. J. Anthony Deutsch and D. Deutsch in "Attention: Some Theoretical Considerations," advance the theory that the decision as to what is relevant and irrelevant is handled by high-level cortical analyzing mechanisms. They develop a model that includes a mechanism which senses and directs attention to what the perceiver considers to be the most important stimulus at the moment.

E. D. Adrian in "The Human Receiving System" is primarily concerned with the problem of the final biological step in the transmission of stimuli between "the sense organ on the surface of the body and the brain inside the head." His essay lucidly points out the complexity and marvelous integrative capacity of the human receiving system.

Also in Part 3:

• Communication Theory: Decoding-Encoding
• Perception and Communication: A Transactional View -- Hans Toch and Malcolm S. MacLean, Jr.
• Perception, Attention, and Consciousness -- Magdalen D. Vernon
• Attention: Some Theoretical Considerations I. -- Anthony Deutsch and D. Deutsch
• The Human Receiving System--E. H. Adrian

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