Conversation in small groups: Speaking and listening strategies depend on the complexities of the environment and group

Hadley, Lauren V.; Whitmer, William M.; Brimijoin, W. Owen; Naylor, Graham

Abstract

Many conversations in our day-to-day lives are held in noisy environments, impeding comprehension, and in groups, taxing auditory attention-switching processes. These situations are particularly challenging for older adults in cognitive and sensory decline. In such complex environments, a variety of extra-linguistic strategies are available to speakers and listeners to facilitate communication, but while models of language account for the impact of context on word choice, there has been little consideration of the impact of context on extra-linguistic behaviour. To address this issue, we investigate how the complexity of the acoustic environment and interaction situation impacts extra-linguistic conversation behaviour of older adults during face-to-face conversations. Specifically, we test whether the use of intelligibility-optimising strategies increases with complexity of the background noise (from quiet to loud, and in speech-shaped vs babble noise), and with complexity of the conversing group (dyad vs triad). While some communication strategies are enhanced in more complex background noise, with listeners orienting to talkers more optimally and moving closer to their partner in babble than speech-shaped noise, this is not the case of all strategies, as we find greater vocal level increases in the less complex speech-shaped noise condition. Other behaviours are enhanced in the more complex interaction situation, with listeners showing more optimal head orientation and taking longer turns when gaining the floor in triads compared to dyads. This study elucidates how different features of the conversation context impact individuals’ communication strategies, which is necessary to both develop a comprehensive cognitive model of multimodal conversation behaviour, and to effectively support individuals that struggle conversing.

Citation

Hadley, L. V., Whitmer, W. M., Brimijoin, W. O., & Naylor, G. (2021). Conversation in small groups: Speaking and listening strategies depend on the complexities of the environment and group. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 28(2), 632-640. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01821-9

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 24, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Oct 13, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-04
• Deposit Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Journal: Psychonomic Bulletin and Review
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 632-640
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01821-9
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4935544
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-020-01821-9