| Abstract: | Literature on the structure of two-person conversations has consistently found that partners become more similar in mean duration of pauses and switching pauses over the course of interaction. Evidence on influence in vocalization duration is primarily negative. No direct evidence of interspeaker influence on a moment-to-moment basis is available. In this study 12 dyadic conversations are analyzed for interspeaker influence, with the use of time series regression procedures. Two versions of the data are presented: a probability summary including the probability of breaking mutual silences, continuing simultaneous talk, and continuing talking alone and a turn summary including vocalization, pause, and switching pause duration. Results show that (1) moment-to-moment influences are present in both versions of the data, (2) these influences differ from dyad to dyad, (3) the influences are both positive (matching) and negative (compensating), and (4) the magnitude of interspeaker influence on a temporal basis is small but detectable. In addition, there are overall tendencies to match in switching pause, probability of continued simultaneous speech, and probability of breaking mutual silences. Dyads show both compensation and matching on vocalization duration and pause-related variables. Implications of these data for past and future explanation of social interaction are explored. |
