Mind the Body : Verbal and Non-verbal Signs of Choice Awareness

This doctoral thesis explores the phenomenon of choice awareness through an interdisciplinary framework grounded in cognitive semiotics. Combining phenomenological philosophy with empirical investigations, the thesis examines how awareness of choice manifests across different levels of consciousness and within diverse semiotic systems. Papers 1 to 3 present experimental studies using choice manipulation tasks, analysing participants’ verbal justifications, bodily expressions, and deictic gestures. The findings reveal differences in choice investment, as expressed in language, between manipulated and non-manipulated choices, and between detected and non-detected manipulations. Even when manipulations go verbally undetected, participants often display signs of pre-reflective awareness, such as longer response times, a wider variety and increase frequency of bodily movements, and affectively marked gestures. These results challenge the assumption that we are “blind” to our choices and that verbal detection is the only reliable indicator of awareness, supporting instead the idea that we are, at the core, aware of our choice making, even if this awareness manifests non-verbally and below the threshold of reflective articulation. Papers 4 and 5 elaborate one of the thesis’ methodological foundations and key principles of cognitive semiotics: phenomenological triangulation which integrates first-, second- and third-person perspectives in the exploration of phenomena.The thesis further develops the model known as the Semiotic Hierarchy (of intentionality and meaning making), linking different types of choice making to varying levels of consciousness and sign use. Expressions of choice awareness, ranging from articulated verbal justifications to spontaneous bodily adaptors, can be interpreted as signs by the analysist, whether participants recognize them as such. In sum, the thesis offers a richer account of choice awareness than traditional approaches in cognitive science, emphasizing the complexity of conscious experience and advocating a polysemiotic approach on how we make, experience, and express our choices.