Disfluency under feedback and time-pressure.

Abstract

Speakers engaging in dialogue with another conversationalist must create and execute plans with respect to the content of the utterance. An analysis of disfluencies from Map Task monologues shows that a speaker is influenced by the pressure to communicate with a distant listener. Speakers were also subject to time-pressure, thereby increasing the cognitive burden of the overall task at hand. The duress of the speaker, as determined by disfluency rate, was examined across four conditions of variable feedback and timing. A surprising result was found that does not adhere to the predictions of the traditional views concerning collaboration in dialogue.