Temporal Preparation for Speaking in Question-Answer Sequences.

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Speech Production
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Conversational turn-taking often features minimal gaps (0-200 ms) between speakers.
• Achieving these rapid transitions requires efficient speech production planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how speakers achieve fast conversational transitions.
• To determine if speakers pre-plan answers during question listening.
• To examine if speakers anticipate the end of turns for articulation timing.

Main Methods:

• Participants listened to pre-recorded questions about images and provided answers.
• Experimental trials varied the predictability of answers from the question's onset.
• The predictability of the final word's duration in questions was manipulated.

Main Results:

• Speakers initiated speech production during questions when answers were predictable early on.
• Predicting turn-taking duration aids in timing speech onset.
• Temporal predictions for speech timing are influenced by anticipated word length and turn duration probabilities.

Conclusions:

• Early knowledge of an answer facilitates pre-planning and speech initiation during the preceding turn.
• Speakers actively use predictive mechanisms, including word length and turn duration probabilities, to manage conversational timing.