The Effect of Collaborative Triadic Conversations in Noise on Decision-Making in a General-Knowledge Task

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Communication Studies
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Collaboration is crucial for communication and decision-making.
• Communicative barriers like noise can impact collaborative processes.
• Limited research exists on how noise affects decision-making after collaboration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of background noise levels during collaborative conversations on subsequent individual decision-making.
• To quantitatively assess how communicative barriers influence decision adjustments.

Main Methods:

• Thirty participants in triads discussed general knowledge questions in either loud (78 dB) or soft (48 dB) noise.
• Participants answered questions individually before and after group discussion.
• Decision-making measures included stay/switch behavior, decision convergence, and voting strategy.

Main Results:

• An interaction was found between initial confidence and noise level.
• Participants were more likely to adjust decisions towards high-confidence prior decisions.
• This effect was amplified in loud noise conditions, suggesting low-confidence opinions are suppressed.

Conclusions:

• Background noise significantly influences how collaborative discussions affect subsequent individual decision-making.
• Communicative barriers can lead individuals to rely more on high-confidence initial decisions.
• The study validates a methodology for assessing communication barriers in group decision-making.