Talk-in-interaction and neuropsychological processes

Talk-in-interaction is characterized by a pattern of turn-taking between conversational partners and rapid shifts from turn to turn without pauses between turns. During talk-in-interaction speakers constantly adjust to one another's terminology, repeat expressions from turn to turn and imitate each other's verbal as well as nonverbal behavior, a phenomenon characterized by automatic processing referred to as interactive alignment. Recent studies have shown how interactive alignment is subserved by neural coupling of brain activity of speakers and listeners, integrating comprehension and language production across many brain areas. Verbal behavior during talk-in-interaction is also dependent on the ability to draw inferences from verbally ambiguous expressions, to a large extent subserved by right hemisphere (RH) functioning, but the nature of the RH contribution to the activation and selection of inferences is under discussion in the research literature. There is emerging evidence of synchrony in neural activity and psychophysiological processing reflecting the interactive alignment observed on the behavioral level during talk-in-interaction. An understanding of neuropsychological aspects of talk-in-interaction may have potential implications for our understanding of doctor-patient dialogue.