The nonverbal manifestations of cognitive processes in clinical listening

Nonverbal behaviors were observed during communicative sequences in videotaped clinical interviews. The interviews were conducted by two groups of physicians-in-training with contrasting cognitive profiles as determined by well-known laboratory tasks prior to the interviews. In each phase of the communicative sequences, significant differences emerged between the two groups for various types of nonverbal behaviors. Differences also emerged between the two groups of interviewers in their questioning patterns and in the nature of the narrative elicited from their interlocutors. A correlational analysis revealed consistent patterns of behaviors across phases of the communicative sequences. The findings provide additional evidence for the intimate connection between nonverbal behavior and cognitive activity and point to nonverbal behaviors as objective measures of the processes underlying clinical listening.