The effect of task difficulty on phonetic convergence
Jennifer Abel · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2013
Cognitive workload is the information processing load a person experiences when performing a task; the more difficult the task, the greater the cognitive workload. Increased task difficulty/cognitive workload has been shown to have an effect on several acoustic measures of speech such as amplitude, word/syllable/utterance duration, and f0. To date, the task difficulty-speech production link has only been studied in individuals. This study examines the effect of different levels of task difficulty on phonetic convergence within dyads collaborating on a task. Dyad members had to build identical LEGO® constructions without being able to see each other’s construction, and with each member having half of the picture-based instructions required to complete the construction. Three levels of task difficulty were created, based on the number of pieces in each step of the construction—easy (2 pieces/step), medium (3 pieces/step), and hard (4 pieces/step)—with five dyads at each level (30 participants total). Dyads were audio- and video-recorded, and completed working memory and mental rotation tests and personality questionnaires prior to the task. Acoustic analysis and AXB perception studies are underway to examine the amount and type of convergence in each dyad.