Alexandra Mouratidou will "defend" her PhD thesis "Verbal and non-verbal signs of choice awareness: A cognitive semiotic exploration", in the usual way, with Prof. Todd Oakely first summarizing the work (kappa + 5 papers) in 30 minutes, and then having a discussion with the candidate for about 45-60 minutes, followed by general discussion. Please note the unusual for us day (Wednesday) and room (H135a) since Thursday is holiday. All are welcome, to the room or to the (usual) zoom link!

This doctoral thesis explores the phenomenon of choice awareness through an interdisciplinary framework, based on the discipline of cognitive semiotics. By combining phenomenological philosophy with empirical investigations, the thesis examines how awareness is manifested across different levels of consciousness and diverse semiotic systems. 

Papers 1 to 3 present experimental studies involving choice manipulation tasks, focusing on participants’ verbal justifications, bodily expressions, and deictic gestures. When expressed through language, there are differences in choice investment between manipulated and non-manipulated choices, and between detected and non-detected manipulation. Further, even when manipulations are verbally undetected, participants often exhibit signs of pre-reflective awareness, such as longer response times, a wider variety and increase 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 and support the idea that awareness can manifest non-verbally and below the threshold of reflective articulation. Papers 4 and 5 elaborate one of the methodological foundations of the thesis, and key principles of cognitive semiotics: phenomenological triangulation which integrates first-, second-, and third-person perspectives in the exploration of phenomena.

The thesis further elaborates the model known as the Semiotic Hierarchy (of intentionality and meaning making), linking different types of choice making (i.e., voluntary, preferred, and chosen) with varying levels of consciousness and sign use. The various expressions of choice awareness, ranging from articulated verbal justifications to spontaneous adaptors, may be interpreted as signs by the analysist – whether they are recognized as such by the participants or not. In doing so, this work contributes to a richer account of choice awareness, emphasizing the complexity of conscious experience and arguing for a polysemiotic approach to understanding how we make, experience, and express our choices.