Effects of saliency upon speech rate and foot and leg movements

In an effort to observe the effect of saliency upon speech rate and foot or leg movement 40 college students (20 males and 20 females) were interviewed about topics that were judged to be of either high or low saliency. The interviews were tape-recorded, and a mean speech rate for each person for each topic was determined. Observers, behind a one-way window, recorded the leg and foot movements. Analyses of variance revealed differences in the speech rate data as a function of saliency, and an interaction between saliency and sex for the movement data. The females made more movements when they were discussing the highly salient material, whereas there was no difference for the males as a function of saliency. These data support the hypothesis that speech rate varies as a function of topic saliency and that foot and leg movement is a function of both saliency and the sex of the participant.