Sequentiality, Mutual Visibility, and Behavioral Matching: Body Sway and Pitch Register During Joint Decision Making

ABSTRACT

We studied behavioral matching during joint decision making. Drawing on motion-capture and voice data from 12 dyads, we analyzed body-sway and pitch-register matching during sequential transitions and continuations, with and without mutual visibility. Body sway was matched most strongly during sequential transitions in the conditions of mutual visibility. Pitch-register matching was higher during sequential transitions than continuations only when the participants could not see each other. These results suggest that both body sway and pitch register are used to manage sequential transitions, while mutual visibility influences the relative weights of these two resources. The conversational data are in Finnish with English translation.

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland (#274735 and #131483), the European Research Council (Advanced Grant #232946), and the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine.

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Notes

¹ In the studies by Couper-Kuhlen (2004) and Szczepek Reed (2006, 2009) the similarities and differences in speakers’ usage of pitch register frequently co-occurred with analogous similarities and differences in the realm of intonation. In this study, we focus solely on speakers’ usage of pitch register, since the role of intonation in Finnish is generally less central than in Indo-European languages, such as French, English, and German (Iivonen, 1998, p. 319).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Academy of Finland (#274735 and #131483), the European Research Council (Advanced Grant #232946), and the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine.