Exploring Content Predictability in Turn-Taking Through Different Computer-Mediated Communications

Wanqing He, Calen C. MacDonald, Yejoon Yoo, Marcos Eizayaga, Ryun Shim, Lev D. Katreczko, Susan R. Fussell


Abstract
Previous studies of face-to-face (f2f) communication have suggested that speakers rely heavily on a variety of multi-modal cues to make real-time predictions about upcoming words in rapid turn-taking. To understand how computer-mediated communication (CMC) differs from f2f communication in terms of the prediction mechanism, this study assessed how the loss of multi-modal cues would affect word predictability in turn-taking. Participants watched videos, listened to audio, or read a transcript of f2f conversations. Across these three conditions, they predicted the same set of omitted words with different levels of predictability and semantic relatedness to other words in the context. Results showed that words of higher predictability were more accurately predicted regardless of CMC types. Higher response accuracy but longer response time were observed in conditions with richer cues, and for participants with more positive and less negative self-emotions. Meanwhile, semantic relatedness did not affect predictability. These results confirmed the key role of prediction in language processing and conversation smoothness, especially its importance in CMC.
Anthology ID:
2025.coling-main.532
Volume:
Proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Computational Linguistics
Month:
January
Year:
2025
Address:
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Editors:
Owen Rambow, Leo Wanner, Marianna Apidianaki, Hend Al-Khalifa, Barbara Di Eugenio, Steven Schockaert
Venue:
COLING
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
7949–7962
Language:
URL:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/fix-sig-urls/2025.coling-main.532/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Wanqing He, Calen C. MacDonald, Yejoon Yoo, Marcos Eizayaga, Ryun Shim, Lev D. Katreczko, and Susan R. Fussell. 2025. Exploring Content Predictability in Turn-Taking Through Different Computer-Mediated Communications. In Proceedings of the 31st International Conference on Computational Linguistics, pages 7949–7962, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Exploring Content Predictability in Turn-Taking Through Different Computer-Mediated Communications (He et al., COLING 2025)
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PDF:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/fix-sig-urls/2025.coling-main.532.pdf