Interactive Alignment After Communication Partner Training in Adults With Traumatic Brain Injury

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Communication Sciences
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Adults with moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently experience communication difficulties, especially in conversations.
• Traditional research methods using static measures fail to capture the dynamic nature of conversations.
• Understanding conversational dynamics is crucial for effective TBI communication interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate interactive alignment (IA) in adults with TBI and their communication partners.
• To determine if IA synchrony changes after communication partner training (CPT).

Main Methods:

• Analysis of de-identified conversation transcripts from 18 adults with TBI and their partners.
• Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) applied to pre- and post-CPT conversation data.
• Examination of word choice synchrony and conversational dynamics.

Main Results:

• No significant change in interactive alignment (IA) was observed post-CPT.
• A decrease in determinism was found, suggesting more diverse word and phrase usage after training.
• Conversational dynamics showed changes, though not in the predicted direction of increased IA.

Conclusions:

• Interactive alignment (IA) can be a valuable measure in TBI treatment studies.
• Communication partner training (CPT) influences conversational dynamics in adults with TBI.
• Findings suggest CPT may foster more varied conversational exchanges rather than increased synchrony.