Task goals constrain interpersonal coordination : evidence from the alignment of speech in dialogues

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Sulkunte, N., Marviene Fulton,, & Sarosh Ahmad,. (2021). Task goals constrain interpersonal coordination : evidence from the alignment of speech in dialogues.

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Description

The benefits of interpersonal alignment on task performance are documented in tasks that require partners to closely monitor each other’s perspective which is consistent with a prominent view that as task partners align their behavior, they converge conceptually. However, whether the benefits of alignment generalize to other tasks is unexplored: for example, in joint visual search, performance could benefit from a “divide and conquer” strategy. This study seeks to explore the relationship between success in specific task goals and interpersonal communication through dyad dialogues. In this study, dyads interacted with maps to complete 10 trials under different task goals: 5 trials involved planning a route from an origin to a destination (route planning) and 5 involved searching for landmarks (visual search). We transcribed a subset of the dialogues in detail. In each conversational turn, we coded for the presence of acceptances (e.g., mm-hm, yeah, OK), references to landmarks, and the use of metacomments (comments about the state of the task) through which task partners negotiated strategies. To the extent that route planning involves more perspective-monitoring of the partner’s subgoals in the task, we expect to find more acceptances and more alignment in the use of landmarks in that task compared to visual search. Additionally, we expect that in visual search the dyads will be more likely to explicitly agree to divide the task space through the use of metacomments. Our findings would suggest that both alignment and complementarity can be emerging properties of the interaction that serve task goals.

Details
Title

Task goals constrain interpersonal coordination : evidence from the alignment of speech in dialogues

Author(s)

Sulkunte, Niyathi

UNC Charlotte Affiliate Type

Undergraduate

Extent

1 online resource

Date Created

2021

Material Type

Conference proceedings

Genre

conference proceedings

Resource Type

text

Abstract

The benefits of interpersonal alignment on task performance are documented in tasks that require partners to closely monitor each other’s perspective which is consistent with a prominent view that as task partners align their behavior, they converge conceptually. However, whether the benefits of alignment generalize to other tasks is unexplored: for example, in joint visual search, performance could benefit from a “divide and conquer” strategy. This study seeks to explore the relationship between success in specific task goals and interpersonal communication through dyad dialogues. In this study, dyads interacted with maps to complete 10 trials under different task goals: 5 trials involved planning a route from an origin to a destination (route planning) and 5 involved searching for landmarks (visual search). We transcribed a subset of the dialogues in detail. In each conversational turn, we coded for the presence of acceptances (e.g., mm-hm, yeah, OK), references to landmarks, and the use of metacomments (comments about the state of the task) through which task partners negotiated strategies. To the extent that route planning involves more perspective-monitoring of the partner’s subgoals in the task, we expect to find more acceptances and more alignment in the use of landmarks in that task compared to visual search. Additionally, we expect that in visual search the dyads will be more likely to explicitly agree to divide the task space through the use of metacomments. Our findings would suggest that both alignment and complementarity can be emerging properties of the interaction that serve task goals.

Subjects--Topics

Cognitive psychology
Cognitive styles

Language

English

Publisher's Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgyRKn4NrLo

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/work:164

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