Aspects Of Nonverbal Communication Research Articles

Identifying focus areas for science communication training in the context of undergraduate science education

ABSTRACT In this paper, we present recommendations for integrating science communication training into undergraduate science curricula. Science communication training is increasingly acknowledged as an important element of science education. It is essential to introduce this training early in academic development, ideally at the undergraduate level. The current study was aimed at identifying specific focus areas for such training within an undergraduate biomedical sciences program. Therefore, we tasked undergraduate biomedical students with translating general instructions for engaging in science-society interactions into concrete communicative behavior. Following the thematic analysis of 121 written student responses, we identified two primary focus areas, resulting in two recommendations. Firstly, training should concentrate on helping students to operationalize complex communicative concepts, such as respect and listening, into tangible communicative behavior. A special emphasis should be placed on aspects of nonverbal communication. Secondly, science communication training should prioritize fostering informed views of the nature of science, while connecting to building knowledge and understanding of models of science communication. This approach could enhance students’ receptivity to important aspects of the dialogue model, such as accepting diverse forms of knowledge and recognizing scientists and non-scientists as equal participants in dialogue. For both recommendations, we contemplate potential educational interventions and/or pedagogical approaches.

Vision-sharing system for android avatars to enable remote eye contact

Maintaining eye contact is a fundamental aspect of non-verbal communication, yet current remote communication tools, such as video calls, struggle to replicate the natural eye contact experienced in face-to-face interactions. This study presents a cutting-edge vision-sharing system for android avatars that enables remote eye contact by synchronizing the eye movements of the operator and the avatar. Our innovative system features an eyeball integrated with a wide-angle lens camera, meticulously designed to mimic human eyes in both appearance and functionality. This technology is seamlessly integrated into android avatars, enabling operators to perceive the avatar’s surroundings as if physically present. It provides a stable and immersive visual experience through a head-mounted display synchronized with the avatar’s gaze direction. Through rigorous experimental evaluations, we demonstrated the system’s ability to faithfully replicate the operator’s perspective through the avatar, making eye contact more intuitive and effortless compared with conventional methods. Subjective assessments further validated the system’s capacity to reduce operational workload and enhance user experience. These compelling findings underscore the potential of our vision-sharing system to elevate the realism and efficacy of remote communication using android avatars.

Application of a Combined Approach in Pragmatic Rehabilitation in a Case of Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study focuses on a 12-year-old girl diagnosed with a pragmatic disorder caused by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Following an initial evaluation, a pragmatic rehabilitation program was implemented using a combined approach in 15 therapeutic sessions over a 4-month period. The program consisted of structured formats organized into modules to train the verbal, paralinguistic, and nonverbal aspects of communication. The results of the re-evaluation demonstrated the program’s effectiveness, with improvements in communicative intention, proxemic skills, prosodic variations, physical contact with the interlocutor, and verbal fluency in oral messages. Consequently, the implementation of the intervention program significantly enhanced the patients’ pragmatic communication skills in therapeutic, familial, and social contexts.

Incorporating verbal and nonverbal aspects to enhance a model of patient communication in cancer care: A grounded theory study.

High-quality communication is essential to patient-centered care. Existing communication models and research tends to focus on what is said verbally with little attention to nonverbal aspects of communication. In sensitive and emotionally intensive healthcare encounters, such as in cancer care, provider and patient nonverbal behavior may be particularly important for communicating with empathy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a conceptual model of communication that accounts for nonverbal behavior. We followed a systematic grounded theory design that involved semi-structured interviews with 23 providers, including nurse practitioners, physicians, surgeons, and physician's assistants. Using constant comparative analysis, we analyzed transcripts and developed a grounded theory model of communication accounting for nonverbal behavior. The major themes included building rapport, gauging how patients will take bad news, ensuring patients' understanding of their conditions, staying honest but hopeful, centering but guiding patient through cancer care, conveying empathy while managing heightened emotions, and ensuring patient understanding. Throughout the process, providers synthesize both verbal and nonverbal information and apply what they learn to future encounters. The results extend existing models of patient-centered communication and invite communication intervention and research that incorporates nonverbal behavior. The model contributes an understanding of the full process of communication in clinical encounters.

Supporting Mixed-Presence Awareness across Wall-Sized Displays Using a Tracking Pipeline based on Depth Cameras

One of the main benefits of large interactive surfaces (e.g. wall-sized displays) lies in their support for collocated collaboration by facilitating simultaneous interactions with the displays and high awareness of other group members' actions. In the context of remote collaboration, this awareness information needs to be acquired through digital means such as video feeds, which typically offer very limited information on non-verbal communication aspects, including on workspace awareness. We describe a new approach we have implemented to tackle that challenge through a multimodal pipeline that deals with tracking, attributing, transmitting, and visualising non-verbal information through what we refer to as workspace awareness cues, across wall-sized displays placed at distant locations. Our approach relies on commodity depth cameras combined with screen configuration information to generate deictic cues such as pointing targets and gaze direction. It also leverages recent artificial intelligence breakthroughs to attribute such cues to identified individuals and augment them with additional gestural interactions. In the present paper, we expand on the details and rationale behind our approach, describe its technical implementation, validate its novelty with regards to the existing literature, and report on early but promising results from an evaluation we conducted based on a mixed-presence decision-making scenario across two distant wall-sized displays.

Non-Verbal Communication Aspect in Paper Umbrella Craft as Intangible Cultural Heritage in Malang

Paper umbrellas are one of the crafts included in the intangible cultural heritage of Malang, East Java. Currently, it is known that there is only one group of craftsmen who still produce this paper umbrella craft. Although not many of them, this paper umbrella craft still exists among people who like traditional handicrafts. This is evident from how often paper umbrella crafts appear at craft exhibitions in cities in Indonesia. Consequently, there is a pressing need for in-depth research on paper umbrella craftsmanship in Malang City. A valuable avenue for exploration is the examination of non-verbal communication aspects inherent in paper umbrella craftsmanship. This study aimed to determine the non-verbal communication aspects contained in paper umbrella crafts. The research employs a descriptive qualitative approach, focusing on analyzing non-verbal communication aspects. Data was collected using unstructured interview methods, documentation, and field surveys. The collected data was reduced for analysis using nonverbal communication theory. The study findings are presented descriptively, detailing the observed non-verbal communication aspects. The findings reveal three distinct categories of non-verbal communication aspects in paper umbrella craftsmanship: fixed features, semi-fixed features, and non-fixed features. Fixed features include shapes depicted on the umbrella. Semi fixed feature is a choice of material used to make paper umbrellas, colors, and motifs. The materials used are bamboo and paper. The colors of the umbrellas are red and green. The motif drawn on the umbrella is a floral motif. Flowers are present because they are the favorite shapes of the craftsmen who make umbrellas. Non-fixed features encompass the entire process of crafting paper umbrellas, from material preparation to final finishing touches. Keywords: umbrella paper, craft, tangible cultural heritage

Differences and Effects of Eye Contact in Chinese and Foreign Non-Verbal Communication

With the accelerated development of China's economy and society, China and other countries in various areas of fruitful exchanges and cooperation, China's citizens to cross-cultural exchanges are also increasingly frequent, the correct treatment of cultural differences between Chinese and Western non-verbal communication not only to a certain extent to avoid conflicts in the interaction, but also more importantly, it can lead to further exchanges between the two cultures, and complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. As business English majors, they need to study not only from the aspect of language communication, but also from the aspect of non-verbal communication to study the differences, influences and cultural characteristics in cross-cultural communication between China and the West. In addition to verbal behavioral communication, body language and eye contact in non-verbal behavioral communication are also very important. This paper starts from the eye contact in non-verbal communication, seeks for an angle that can be borrowed and learned, which can help the development of the individual, and contribute to the effective cross-cultural communication.

Exploring the experiences and preferences of South Asian patients' of primary care in England since COVID-19.

Remote (digital and/or telephone) access and consultation models are being driven by national policy with the goal being that the National Health Service operateon a remote-first (digital-first) basis by 2029. Previous research has suggested that remote methods of access to care and consulting may act to widen health inequalities for certain patients and/or groups such as those from ethnic minorities. South Asian (SA) patients comprise the largest ethnic minority group in England. Understanding the experiences and needs of this group is critical to ensuring that general practice can deliver equitable, quality health care. Qualitative study. 37 participants (from Indian, Pakistani and/or Bangladeshi background) were recruited to take part in either in-person preferred language focus groups or remote semistructured interviews in the English language. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes in the qualitative data. Three major interlinked themes were identified: (1) reduced access, (2) reduced patient choiceand (3) quality and safety concerns. The findings highlight access issues split by (i) general issues with appointment access via any remote means and (ii) specific issues related to language barriers creating additional barriers to access and care. Some patients valued the convenience of remote access but also raised concerns regarding appointment availability and reduced patient choice. Face-to-face consultations were preferable but less available. The findings underscore how participants perceived remote care to be of lesser quality and less safe. Concerns were greatest for those with limited English proficiency (LEP), with the removal of non-verbal aspects of communication and 'hands-on' care leading to perceptions of reduced psycho-social safety. SA patients' experiences of remote-led primary care access and care delivery were negative with only a minority viewing it positively and for certain limited scenarios. Face-to-face models of care remain the preferred mode of consultation, particularly for those with LEP. Hybrid models of access offer patients the greatest choice, and are likely to meet the varying needs of the South-Asian patient population going forwards. The remote first approach to primary care may be achievable as a service ideal, but its limitations need to be recognised and accounted for to ensure that primary care can be an equitable service, both now and in the future. Members of the public were involved in all phases of research in the study. This included co-working in partnership throughout the study including, reviewing patient-facing documents, recruiting participants, data facilitation, translation work, interpretation of the data and co-authors on this manuscript. The key to the success of our study was collaborative teamwork, which involved experienced members of the public with SA cultural knowledge working together with and integral to the research team for all components.

DRAMA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN PRESCHOOL

Rapid changes in society force people to face increasingly complex life challenges that require the ability to adapt to changes and function effectively in a social context. The issue of communicative competence, on the level of which the quality of this adaptation and functioning depends to a large extent, is becoming more relevant. The development of communicative competence begins already in preschool. It is necessary to create an appropriate and supportive environment in which the development of verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication, including vocabulary, would be promoted in various ways according to the child's educational needs.The aim of the paper is to analyze the possibilities of using drama for the development of communicative competence in preschool. The results obtained show the usefulness of drama as a method for the development of communicative competence, as well as differences depending on the gender of a child: boys need more pedagogical support for the development of communicative competence than girls.

Paralanguage in the Translation of Children’s Graphic Novels into Arabic: Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid

AbstractGraphic novels are marketed as helpful for reluctant young readers. The supplementation of text with visual stimuli as part of a multimodal narrative is often claimed to improve reading comprehension and motivation in children and young adolescents. The translation into Arabic of Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, by comparison, fails to deliver an equally engaging reading experience. In the Arabic versions of Rodrick Rules and Hard Luck, language acts as an obstacle to comprehension due to the misrepresentation of textual paralanguage, broadly defined as the written representation of nonverbal aspects of communication including tone, stress and volume. As paralanguage is also involved in character portrayal, this translation approach paints a rather dull image of the series’ protagonist Greg. Using the textual paralanguage typology proposed by Luangrath et al. (J Consum Psychol 27:98–107, 2017), the case is made here for closer attention in translation to the pragmatic meanings contained in textual paralanguage. As the novel evolves to incorporate an ever-expanding array of multimodal elements, so should the translation strategies involved in rendering these texts into other languages.

The Role of Gestures in Communication

Because it plays such a very significant role in the life of every human being, it is difficult to imagine a world without communication. After all, communication, both verbally and nonverbally, has occurred and evolved between people since the dawn of humankind. As it is, during communicative interaction, verbal contact is supplemented with non-verbal information, laying the foundation for full-fledged communication. That means that nonverbal communication is an essential aspect of speech communication because it can either greatly increase the semantic meaning of a word or significantly weaken it. Moreover, non-verbal means of communication are typically expressive and laconic and greatly increase the possibilities of communication between people. That being said, one of the most commonly used non-verbal communications is gestures. In communication, gestures accompany speech or replace it. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other body parts, and each person uses various motions in communication to convey his thoughts. The gestures we use in daily communication add to a language’s vocabulary and syntax. Furthermore, a gesture is more expressive than a unit of verbal language. With this in mind, this article discusses the various aspects of non-verbal communication and provides examples of typical gestures a person uses in everyday communication. This study consisted of 50 students ranging in age from 17 to 25 years old and aimed to reveal what types of gestures are used much more frequently by young people in everyday life.

Let's face it: Quantifying the impact of nonverbal communication in FOMC press conferences

When the Fed Chair speaks, investors not only listen, but also watch. To demonstrate this phenomenon, we apply facial recognition analysis to FOMC press conference videos and quantify one of the most important aspects of nonverbal communication - facial expressions. Using minute-level data, we align our nonverbal communication measure with a set of financial assets to estimate the impact of the Fed Chairs’ facial expressions on investor expectations. We find that investors adversely react to negative expressions revealed during the press conference, even when controlling for the verbal component of the press conference and other explanatory variables.

Sports blogging: communicative strategies in contemporary sports discourse

The article provides an analytical description of the pragmatic level of sports blogs, identifying the main communicative strategies used in sports blogs and describing the communicative tactics as well as their linguistic operationalisation. The pragmalinguistic approach is used to identify the linguistic features, communicative and pragmatic goals of the blog, shedding light on the mechanisms that make blogosphere language into an effective tool for interactive communication. The research examines both verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication in English-language sports blogs from 2020-2022. We conclude that modern sports blogs are data-driven and interactive, characterized by a transition from a descriptive to an analytical approach to the story.

Telehealth As an Option, Not a Requirement-Who May Benefit, and How Do We Decide?

During the COVID pandemic, telehealth has been established as a feasible form of treatment that is at times preferred by both clinicians and older adult patients. As the height of the pandemic fades, yet remains part of everyday life, care has shifted in many practices from primarily video and phone visits (telemental health, or TMH) to a hybrid model that includes both virtual and in person visits. There are both advantages and potential drawbacks to TMH. Advantages include the ability to see patients who are otherwise homebound or find transportation difficult, the ability to see patients without a mask, reduction in no show rate, the potential to get a sense of the patient's home environment, and actively involving family whom the patient would like to include. Potential drawbacks include a loss of aspects of non-verbal communication, inability to perform a physical exam if needed (for example, to assess gait, check or vitals, or evaluate for extrapyramidal symptoms), potential lack of privacy, and a patient's difficulty navigating technology. Clinician related factors may also affect the success of telemental health as a treatment modality. These factors include personal preference, clinicians’ comfort with technology and the suitability of a provider's work environment for this platform. The frame of treatment (medication management versus psychotherapy) is an additional factor that must be considered. There are also individual patient characteristics that may contribute to them being more or less receptive to this modality of treatment. These factors will be highlighted in case examples in the session. Now that clinicians have a choice about meeting virtually or in person, it will be helpful to have a framework for making this decision. In this workshop, we will present guidelines for evaluating the usefulness of video delivered treatment. We will propose factors to be considered by clinicians to evaluate an individual patient's suitability for tele health versus in person or a hybrid model. We will also discuss strategies to overcome potential barriers.

Differences of Modality Use between Telepractice and Face-to-Face Administration of the Scenario-Test in Persons with Dementia-Related Speech Disorder.

Telepractice is increasingly finding its way into the care of people with dementia. Web-based delivery of speech and language therapy (SLT) is feasible and has the potential to improve communication in people with dementia-related speech disorders. Although experts are discussing the strengths and weaknesses of telepractice, a precise analysis of the differences between analogue and digital communication for this heterogeneous group of patients is still missing. The three current single cases investigated verbal and nonverbal aspects of communication in a face-to-face (F2F) and digital setting through a qualitative research design. Using the scenario-test (ST) in person and via big blue button (BBB; video conferencing system), several decisive factors were detected, influencing the effectiveness of communication in a F2F compared to a digital setting. The most important results of the qualitative content analysis are described for each case individually. Additionally, the influence of person-related factors, such as age, diagnosis, presence of depression, and level of education, is presented. Perceptual, executive, and affective disorders, as well as aids of relatives, are considered separately. The results indicate that executive functions, affects, and perceptual deficits need to be taken into account if telepractice is to be applied. Age, education, and distinct forms of dementia might be decisive for successful telepractice as well.

Telesupervision in Psychotherapy: A Bibliometric and Systematic Review.

(1) Background: This systematic review supported by a bibliometric analysis identified quantitative and qualitative empirical studies that allowed us to respond to the objective of identifying and discussing the scope and limitations of the clinical-psychotherapeutic supervision in virtual modality or telesupervision. (2) Methods: The articles were selected according to the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, and the eligibility criteria proposed by the PICOS strategy (population, interventions, comparators, outcomes, and study design) based on 396 records of scientifically identified articles in the Journal Citation Report databases of the Web of Science. (3) Results: The literature review stages allowed the selection of three articles, which were added three others that were already included in a previous review, to enrich the analysis and discussion. The results of the present review highlighted aspects of nonverbal communication, alliance, comfort, preference, trust, and construction of professional identity, among others, both considering only the telesupervision format and comparing it with traditional face-to-face supervision. (4) Conclusions: The contributions that these results are providing to the understanding of the scope and limitations of the practice of telesupervision are discussed, also considering its interference in the construction of the professional identity of supervisors and supervisees.

Nonverbal Communication in Immersive Virtual Reality through the Lens of Presence: A Critical Review

AbstractThe emergence of metaverse signifies the transformation of virtual reality (VR) from an isolated digital experience into a social medium, which facilitates new contexts of information exchange and communication. In fact, VR comprises the first-ever computer-mediated communication paradigm that enables the transfer of a broad range of nonverbal cues, including some unique cues which are not even known from face-to-face social encounters. This highlights the urgency to theoretically and experimentally investigate aspects of nonverbal communication (NVC) in immersive virtual environments (IVEs). We provide a critical outlook on empirical studies aiming at widening the discussion on how presence, as a core social factor, is affected by the perception of nonverbal signals and how NVC may be effectively utilized to facilitate social interactions in immersive environments. Our review proposes a classification of the most fundamental cues and modalities of NVC, which we associate with conceptualizations of presence that are more relevant to interpersonal communication. We also investigate the NVC-related aspects that are essential to construct an “active” virtual self-concept and highlight associations among NVC-related aspects through forming a complex web of research topics coming from the field of IVEs. We establish that the key research challenge is to go beyond simply studying nonverbal cues and technological settings in isolation.

A Study of the Relationship between Social Communication Skills and Sensitivity to Paralanguage

Sixty office workers at a temporary employment agency were surveyed for their Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) and Sensitivity to Paralanguage (SP) scores. The SP measure contains 12 questions and requires participants to guess the nature of the social relationship between two people based on a 30-second acoustic sample of their dialogue. Paralanguage was selected for investigation in this study rather than nonverbal aspects of communication because people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tendencies — who tend to avoid looking at the face of the interlocutor — still use paralanguage effectively. Social communication skills (SCS) were defined as the sum of scores from the AQ subscales “Social skills” and “Communication”, and participants were categorized into either high or low SCS groups. Five participants had AQ scores of 26 or more, including one participant with an AQ score of 36. The five high AQ scorers were all male and all in the low SCS group. The low SCS group had a mean SP score that was 0.47 points higher than the high SCS group. The results indicate that people with poor SCS were more effective in guessing the social relationship between the two parties based on paralanguage than those with high SCS. There are two possible explanations for this finding. The first is that the SP test favors people with ASD tendencies in the low SCS group. The second is that the high SCS group may typically rely on senses other than hearing when making social judgments. In future, the reasons for our finding may be clarified by creating a “sensitivity to nonverbal cues” measurement that uses only visual information.

An Exploratory Analysis of Air Traffic Controller Speech Intelligibility Using Voice Data from a Simulation Experiment

Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) communicate with pilots through radio communication. Speech intelligibility is vital in ensuring that the message is conveyed accurately. Factors such as speech rate affect this. Additionally, workload and stress have been shown to affect how people communicate significantly. In this paper, we attempt to analyze the voice data of ATCs who participated in a simulated experiment in the context of these non-verbal aspects of communication, particularly transmission length and speech rate. To better understand, we analyzed our data at two levels: aggregate and individual. Moreover, we focused on a single participant to see how such non-verbal characteristics evolve. Understanding these intricacies would contribute to building automated detectors in real-time voice transmissions that would leverage technology to avert any incidents brought about by stress and workload.

TEACHERS’ PARALANGUAGE IN CLASSROOM INTERACTION

Paralanguage, as a part of non-verbal communication, is believed to have fruitful contribution to the successful teaching and learning process. Therefore, it is crucial to explore the features of teachers’ paralanguage in EFL classroom interactions and the function of those paralanguage features in classroom interaction. Under the design of qualitative research, this study employed classroom observation and recording. The subject is one English class with one teacher and 31 students in one Senior High School in Makassar, Indonesia. To analyze data, steps of analysis which included data collection, data reduction, data display and conclusion (drawing or verifying) adopted from Miles, Huberman, and Saldana (2014) were employed. The result of data analysis showed that the teacher applied some features of paralanguage in classroom interaction in the forms of (1) voice qualities that consist of pitch (the highness and lowness of tone), rhythm (smooth rhythm), and rate (slow rate or tempo); and (2) vocalizations that include vocal characterizers (laughing) and vocal segregate (sound “ee”). This study also found that the use of teacher’s paralanguage in teaching was (1) to accent, (2) to complement, (3) to contradict, (4) to regulate, and (5) to repeat. Findings from this study can become a reference for teachers in creating effective classroom interaction. The use of paralanguage by the teacher in the class as one aspect of non-verbal communication is needed as one way to create effective classroom interaction.