A direct assessment of the relation between shared knowledge and communication in a referential communication task

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Prolonged interaction is assumed to increase shared knowledge.
• Increased shared knowledge is believed to enhance communication efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively document the relationship between shared knowledge and communication over time.
• To evaluate the assumption that increased shared knowledge improves communication efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Participants engaged in a referential communication task over several trials.
• Researchers monitored participants' knowledge of stimuli and their estimates of shared knowledge.
• Experiment 3 assessed the impact of intervening questionnaires on participant behavior.

Main Results:

• Participants developed greater shared knowledge throughout the interaction.
• Estimates of shared knowledge became more accurate with successive trials.
• Intervening questionnaires increased information exchange but did not alter overall behavior patterns.

Conclusions:

• The study provides quantitative evidence supporting the link between increased shared knowledge and improved communication.
• Interaction duration positively influences the development of shared knowledge and communication efficiency.
• Methodological choices, like questionnaires, can influence interaction dynamics without fundamentally changing core behavioral outcomes.