The Modified Imitation Game: A Method for Measuring Interactional Expertise

Area of Science:

• Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• The sociology of scientific knowledge differentiates between contributory experts (practical skills) and interactional experts (tacit knowledge communication).
• Interactional expertise is crucial for effective communication and collaboration between different groups, including experts and laypeople.
• The imitation game, a variant of the Turing test, has been used to assess interactional expertise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a modified imitation game to assess interactional expertise.
• To examine interactional expertise in blind and sighted individuals within a street-crossing scenario.
• To evaluate the utility of the modified imitation game as a research tool.

Main Methods:

• A modified imitation game was employed, involving blind and sighted participants imitating each other's thought processes during a street-crossing task.
• Participants provided verbal reports, which were then judged as genuine or imitated by a separate group of blind and sighted individuals.
• Data analysis included probit mixed models for signal-detection theory and natural-language-processing techniques for reasoning data.

Main Results:

• The study provided evidence that interactional expertise can be acquired through immersion within an expert community.
• The modified imitation game successfully differentiated between genuine and imitated responses, indicating its utility in measuring tacit knowledge.
• Judges, including blind individuals and orientation-and-mobility specialists, could discern imitated responses, highlighting the subtle nature of interactional expertise.

Conclusions:

• Interactional expertise, characterized by tacit knowledge, is attainable through sustained immersion and social interaction within a specific community.
• The modified imitation game serves as a valuable tool for quantifying interactional expertise and understanding knowledge acquisition in various communities of practice.
• This research underscores the importance of social immersion in developing nuanced expertise and effective intergroup communication.