relevance theory

A theory of communication and cognition which claims that human cognition is geared to the maximizing of relevance. New information is relevant if it interacts with old information to produce various CONTEXTUAL effects, and the more contextual effects it produces the more relevant it is. On the other hand, the more processing effort it involves the less relevant it is. The theory claims that all communicative acts carry a guarantee of optimal relevance – a guarantee that they have enough contextual effects and require no unnecessary processing effort – and that they are interpreted in the light of this guarantee.