How Visual Co-Presence and Joint Attention Shape Collaboration and Speaking
Speaker
Susan Brennan and Calion Lockridge
Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Sony Brook
When
-
Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)
Description
Computer-mediated collaboration is supported by a wide variety of applications and ad hoc interfaces that enable varying degrees of perceptual co-presence between collaborators. Auditory co-presence (especially the ability to converse by speaking aloud) has been shown to be especially important for coordinating activity in real time, for conveying emphasis, and for face-management. Visual co-presence, on the other hand, seems to vary widely in its importance for collaboration, depending on the task and on which elements of the visual context are shared between collaborators. Previous research has found that some elements of visual co-presence (e.g., the ability to see what the other person is working on) appear to be much more important to collaborative tasks and to grounding in communication than others (e.g., the ability to see the other person’s face). We will present laboratory studies that attempt to tease apart the elements of visual co-presence that support achieving a joint focus of attention, and consider how joint attention shapes collaboration and conversation.
Speaker's Bio
Susan Brennan is Associate Professor of Psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, with joint appointments in the Departments of Linguistics and Computer Science. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford University with a focus on psycholinguistics, her M.S.V.S. from what is now the MIT Media Lab, where she worked on computer-generated caricatures and teleconferencing interfaces, and her B.A. is in anthropology from Cornell University. She has done research in dialogue and human-computer interaction at Atari, Apple Computer, and Hewlett-Packard Labs, including five years on HP’s Natural Language Project. She serves as Associate Editor of Discourse Processes and has served on the editorial board of Computational Linguistics. She is currently using eyetracking both as a method for studying the comprehension and production of spontaneous speech and as a channel in computer-mediated communication.
Calion Lockridge is a Ph.D. candidate in cognitive psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, working with Susan Brennan. He is interested in the effects of visual co-presence on referential communication as well as in the effects of memory span upon listening, speaking, and coordinating in conversation. He earned his B.A. at Langston University in Oklahoma and studied the impact of color blindness on the performance of air traffic controllers at the FAA’s Civil Aero-Medical Institute, Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. He has been an avid College Bowl competitor and coach.
Speaker's Website
http://www.psychology.stonybrook.edu/sbrennan-/
Host
Robert Kraut