Journal of Communication, September 2002 522 Verbal and Nonverbal Communication: Distinguishing Symbolic, Spontaneous, and Pseudo-Spontaneous Nonverbal Behavior By Ross Buck and C. Arthur VanLear Verbal and nonverbal communication are seen in terms of interacting streams of spontaneous and symbolic communication, and posed “pseudo-spontaneous” dis- plays. Spontaneous communication is defined as the nonintentional communica- tion of motivational-emotional states based upon biologically shared nonpropositional signal systems, with information transmitted via displays. Sym- bolic communication is the intentional communication, using learned, socially shared signal systems, of propositional information transmitted via symbols. Pseudo- spontaneous communication involves the intentional and strategic manipulation of displays. An original meta-analysis demonstrates that, like verbal symbolic com- munication, nonverbal analogic (pantomimic) communication is related to left hemisphere cerebral processing. In contrast, spontaneous communication is re- lated to the right hemisphere. A general theory of communication should account for the natural biologically based aspects of communication as well as its learned and symbolically structured aspects. Further, such a general theory should include a feedback process—expla- nations of message production alone or message reception alone, although po- tentially useful, are incomplete. A corollary of these two criteria is that a general theory of communication should account for the coevolution of symbolic and nonsymbolic feedback processes and their integration into systems of communi- cation characteristic of the human species. Whereas the explication of such a general theory is beyond the scope of this article, developmental interactionist theory (Buck, 1984, 1989, 1994) does aim to offer such an integrated view. The current article poses how developmental interactionist theory deals with the topic of this special issue of Journal of Communication—the relationship between ver- bal and nonverbal communication. Ross Buck (PhD, University of Pittsburgh) is a professor of communication sciences and psychology at the University of Connecticut, where C. Arthur VanLear (PhD, University of Utah) is an associate professor of communication sciences. Copyright © 2002 International Communication Association