Human Communication Research Articles

Revitalising education through an interuniversity arrangement

Fair, open and inclusive discussions are key to ensuring voices are heard. This is integral to effective human communication, as is actively involving participants in deciding on group discussion rules. Professor Mika Nakano from the Centre for Liberal Arts at Fukuoka Institute of Technology believes that in Japan, the adherence of social norms to traditional, established patterns is hindering society. She believes that entrepreneurship education will empower young people and ultimately improve society. She and her colleagues are creating a network of 18 universities in the Kyushu-Okinawa region. Through this interuniversity arrangement, she wants to revitalise education. Part of this work is developing remote discussion skills in Japanese university students, which Nakano believes is currently lacking. Through her research, she wants to level the playing field when it comes to economic, digital and social disparities between children. Her vision is a society where there are opportunities for everyone and one in which collaboration is inclusive. Nakano is also interested in argumentation as an education method, through which participants can respectfully share ideas and viewpoints. She is developing a curriculum that utilises quantitative and qualitative approaches drawn from psychology and anthropology methodologies. This incorporates observation, questionnaire and interview methods to propose effective learning methods that will be tested to verify their effectiveness.

Sentiment and Emotion Modeling in Text-based Conversations utilizing ChatGPT

Emotional Intelligence (EI) constitutes a vital element of human communication, and its integration into text-based dialogues has gained great significance in the modern digital era. The present paper proposes an innovative method for modeling sentiment and emotion within text-based conversations using the ChatGPT language model. The advancements in sentiment and emotion recognition are centered on the role of EI in text-based conversational models. The study underscores the significance of diverse datasets, including Interactive Emotional Dyadic Motion Capture (IEMOCAP), MELD, EMORYNLP, and DAILYDIALOG, for training and evaluating emotion detection algorithms. IEMOCAP and MELD offer detailed emotional annotations, EMORYNLP emphasizes sensitive dialogue scenarios, and DAILYDIALOG encompasses a wide range of everyday interactions, providing distinct advantages for capturing emotional subtleties. The proficiency of different emotion categorization models, including ChatGPT and models with four levels of detail, is demonstrated through their capacity to understand and respond to emotions aptly. The crucial role of conversational AI with sophisticated EI in fostering empathy and context-sensitive interactions is emphasized.

Body Language: Secret Thoughts of Characters in Dorothy Allison's Trash

One of the most effective nonverbal communication tools is body language, which can disclose a person's innermost sentiments and ideas. Body language is a vital technique for understanding human communication since it can reveal concealed emotions. By studying gestures, an individual can gain insights into real impulses and emotions. Sigmund Freud famously referred to body language as "Freudian slips", where unconsciousness influences body movements, exposing latent ideas and emotions towards someone or something. With the ability to read body language, individuals can uncover an individual's true awareness and intentions. Most human communication, according to researchers, heavily relies on gestures, positions, and distances to reveal the covert thoughts. This suggests that a person can use body language analysis as a scientific way to understand and influence the innermost thoughts of others and, in turn, their own. In her collection of short tales Trash, Dorothy Allison employs body language to reveal the innermost thoughts and sentiments of her characters towards objects and people. She conveys the stories behind the story she tells.

User behavior during functional testing of the ventilator: analysis of the use of the QUICKcheck and detection of misconnected ventilation tubes

While patient safety during general anesthesia has improved in recent years, incidents still occur in anesthesia, particularly in the area of airway management and ventilation. In addition to amandatory daily system test before using aventilator, aQUICK check is recommended by the German Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine (DGAI) before connecting apatient; however, misconnections of breathing tubes are still possible and not necessarily detected by the device self-test. The aim of the present study was to analyze user behavior at modern anesthesia workstations regarding the verification and functionality of the QUICK check. Amonocentric prospective recording of user behavior in handling the QUICKcheck was carried out as part of amedical simulation training course as well as aprospective, multicenter, explorative, anonymous survey of anesthesiology staff in various German hospitals. Out of 30 participating physicians 93.3% (n = 28) carried out aQUICK check immediately before connecting the simulation patient to the ventilator. Only 1 (96.6%) of the physicians did not recognize the incorrect connection of the ventilation tubes during their QUICK check. Of the participating physicians, 80% did not use the separate bag valve mask despite persistent ventilation problems on the ventilator. The online survey was answered by n = 187 participants, 64.7% of the participants stated that they always carry out the QUICK check, 31.5% sometimes and 3.7% never. The presence of aseparate bag valve mask is always checked by 66.3% of respondents, by 29.8% sometimes and by 3.8% never. Of the physicians, 32% believed that the integrated self-test always recognizes amisconnection of the ventilation tubes. The present study reveals aheterogeneous picture of the application and understanding of the QUICK check as recommended by the DGAI. The lack of understanding of astandardized implementation of the check can be seen as further evidence of the importance of interdisciplinary training with afocus on human factors, communication and cooperation as opposed to a mere procedural implementation of established tools.

Metacognition in the listening brain.

How do you know you have heard right? Metacognition, the ability to assess and monitor one's own cognitive state, is key to understanding human communication in complex environments. However, the foundational role of metacognition in hearing and communication is only beginning to be explored, and the neuroscience behind it is an emerging field: how does confidence express in neural dynamics of the listening brain? What is known about auditory metaperceptual alterations as a hallmark phenomenon in psychosis, dementia, or hearing loss? Building on Bayesian ideas of auditory perception and auditory neuroscience, 'meta-listening' offers a framework for more comprehensive research into how metacognition in humans and non-humans shapes the listening brain.

Perineuronal nets in motor circuitry regulate the performance of learned vocalizations in songbirds

The accurate and reliable performance of learned vocalizations (e.g., speech and birdsong) modulates the efficacy of communication in humans and songbirds. Consequently, it is critical to understand the factors that regulate the performance of learned vocalizations. Across taxa, neural circuits underlying motor learning and control are replete with perineuronal nets (PNNs), and we analyzed how PNNs in vocal motor circuitry regulate the performance of learned song in zebra finches. We report that developmental increases in PNN expression in vocal circuitry are associated with developmental increases in song stereotypy. We also document that enzymatically degrading PNNs in the motor nucleus HVC acutely altered song structure (changes in syllable sequencing and production). Collectively, our data reveal a causal contribution of PNNs to the performance of learned behaviors and, given the parallels in the regulation of birdsong and speech, suggest that PNNs in motor circuitry could modulate speech performance.

The effect of comics and Interprofessional community dialogue on health humanities, empathy, and communication among healthcare students.

Healthcare providers' health humanities, empathy, and communication effectiveness positively correlate with care recipient outcomes. These abilities can be enhanced by teaching design courses. In particular, comics and community dialogues are suitable for cultivating professional students' abilities. However, this method has not yet been used in studies involving healthcare professional students. This study develops a Comics and Interprofessional Community Dialogue (CICD) action programme for healthcare professional students to be used during emotion management courses and to evaluate the effects of this programme on changes in students' health humanities competence, empathy, and communication effectiveness. An additional aim is to determine the predictors of effective communication. A single-group longitudinal study is conducted with professional healthcare students recruited from a medical university. The students completed three questionnaires: the Health Humanities Competence Scale, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, and the Communication Effectiveness Profile at the beginning of the semester (Time 1), mid-semester (Time 2), and the end of the semester (Time 3). Changes in the scores for each questionnaire are analysed using generalised estimation models. The study's findings show that at Time 3, communication effectiveness is significantly higher than at Times 1 and 2 and is positively related to empathy and health humanities competence. These results indicate that a CICD action programme improves healthcare professional students' communication effectiveness and that students' empathy and health humanities affect their communication competence. Health humanities competence and empathy are enhanced with a CICD, which helps healthcare professional students improve their communication effectiveness. Furthermore, the semester period, empathy, and health humanities competencies are predictors of healthcare professional students' communication effectiveness competencies.

Formal Thought Disorder in Schizophrenia: A Problematic History.

Formal thought disorder (FTD), studied even before the inception of the concept of schizophrenia, remains a deeply isolating experience for patients as well as a difficult one for their interlocutors, including clinicians. The views on language, paralinguistic, and extralinguistic features exhibited by patients with severe mental ill health are reviewed, including the contributions from 19th-century European authors to the last third of the 20th century. Stages in the construction of FTD are described, including its merging with Dementia Praecox, and its subsequently being shaped by notions such as primitive archaic thinking, paralogical or autistic thinking, concretism, overinclusive thinking, and the return of the efforts to describing it with increased reliability. It appears that some features of communication in schizophrenia, but not others, have been selected at different points in time for clinical and research use without realizing that by carrying out that selection, the phenomenon under study itself is changed. Remarkably, some theories of FTD remained in use, despite being empirically disproved (eg, word association disorder, concrete thinking, paralogical thinking) or despite its highly problematic and discriminatory nature. We would suggest that studies of FTD should explicitly consider which and why some of its features are included or excluded when assessing it. Furthermore, we would suggest that the study of FTD should incorporate the complexity of human communication, including the pragmatic, paralinguistic, non-verbal, and cognitive dimensions of the localized and unique situation where it takes place.

Emotion in Nonverbal Communication: Comparing Animal and Human Vocalizations and Human Text Messages

Humans and other animals communicate a large quantity of information vocally through nonverbal means. Here, we review the domains of animal vocalizations, human nonverbal vocal communication and computer-mediated communication (CMC), under the common thread of emotion, which, we suggest, connects them as a dimension of all these types of communication. After reviewing the use of emotions across domains, we focus on two concepts that have often been opposed to emotion in the animal versus human communication literature: control and meaning. Non-human vocal communication is commonly described as emotional, preventing either control or meaning; in contrast, the emotional dimension of human nonverbal signals does not prevent them from being perceived as both intentionally produced and meaningful. Amongst others, we disagree with this position, highlighting here that emotions should be integrated across species and modalities such as the written modality. We conclude by delineating ways in which each of these domains can meaningfully influence each other, and debates in their respective fields, and more generally the debate on the evolution of communication.

Gestural Iconicity and Alignment as Steps in the Evolution of Language.

Studies of the evolution of language rely heavily on comparisons to nonhuman primates, particularly the gestural communication of nonhuman apes. Differences between human and ape gestures are largely ones of degree rather than kind. For example, while human gestures are more flexible, ape gestures are not inflexible. In this piece, I closely consider two features of the gestural communication of apes and humans that might display differences in kind: iconicity and temporal alignment. Iconicity has long played a privileged role in theories of gestural language origins, the proposal being that it provided a steppingstone into language through a stage of pantomime. However, iconicity is not as easy as it seems. Evidence from co-speech gestures of hearing children and from homesign suggests that iconic reference is both cognitively complex and slow to develop in humans. There is no conclusive evidence that nonhuman apes understand or produce iconic gestures; some gestures may appear iconic to human observers but the apes themselves may not understand the similarity between form and meaning. Far from providing an easy pathway into the emergence of symbolic communication, iconicity relies on sophisticated capacities for analogy and abstraction, ones often lacking in apes and young children. Temporal alignment between gesture and vocalization is another area that may show sharp contrasts between adult humans and apes, though data here is sparser. I discuss the tight synchronization of gesture and speech that emerges over the first year of life in human children and contrast it with gesture and vocalization in apes, which typically are described as overlapping but not simultaneous. Human ancestors probably communicated in ways similar to other apes, but the dual emergence of the ability to use iconic reference and the alignment of hand and mouth may have set our ancestors down a unique evolutionary road toward language.

What are parents' preferences for Human Papillomavirus vaccination promotion messages and communication? Application of a discrete choice experiment to a French Caribbean setting

IntroductionHuman Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake in the French Caribbean has remained below 25% since introduction in 2007, which is well behind national and international targets. Using a discrete choice experiment (DCE), we explored parental preferences around HPV vaccination and optimized communication content in a sample of parents of middle-school pupils in Guadeloupe.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey in public and private middle age schools in Guadeloupe in June 2023 using an online questionnaire. Across a series of nine hypothetical scenarios, participants were asked to decide to vaccinate or not and how certain they were about this choice. Scenarios differed by five attributes (diseases characteristics, vaccine safety, health professionals or institutions promoting vaccination, social conformity and optimal vaccination age). We used random effect logit and linear regression models to estimate the effects of attribute levels on vaccine acceptance and vaccine eagerness.ResultsA total of 389 parents out of the 23,184 pupils’ parents completed the DCE survey. The attributes with a significant effect size on theoretical vaccine acceptance were "social conformity" and "optimal vaccination age”. Overall, the odds of scenarios stating high vaccine coverage in adolescents were at least 1.8 (95% CI: 1.2—2.6) times more likely to yield theoretical vaccine acceptance compared to a low vaccine uptake reference. The odds of providing scientific explanation along with age yielded theoretical vaccination acceptance respectively up to 3.2 times higher (95% CI: 1.7 to 6.1) in parents reporting an un vaccinated child and not intention to vaccinate. For vaccine eagerness, we observe significant positive effects of communication content overall when stating high vaccination uptake in adolescents or scientific evidence along with age or mentioning cancer prevention. Parents always refusing vaccination remained unsensitive to communication contents.Discussion and conclusionThese original DCE results highlighted the need for tailoring specific HPV vaccination promotion communication in a French Caribbean setting. Contextual features such as sexuality concerns as regard to age and peers’ adhesion to vaccination have to be thoroughly considered. The nationwide HPV vaccination campaign in middle schools should adapt communication in order to raise HPV vaccine uptake in the French Caribbean.

Evolutionary continuities and discontinuities in affective voice signaling.

Affective voice signaling has significant biological and social relevance across various species, and different affective signaling types have emerged through the evolution of voice communication. These types range from basic affective voice bursts and nonverbal affective up to affective intonations superimposed on speech utterances in humans in the form of paraverbal prosodic patterns. These different types of affective signaling should have evolved to be acoustically and perceptually distinctive, allowing accurate and nuanced affective communication. It might be assumed that affect signaling is most effective and distinctive in affective prosody as the presumably most recently evolved form of acoustic voice signaling. We investigated and compared two signaling types in human voice communication with different evolutionary backgrounds, referred to as nonverbal affect signals (shared across many species) and affective prosody (being exclusive in humans). We found, first, that various basic affect categories seem to be distinctively encoded in both signal types, but there seems minimal continuity in the acoustic code from nonverbal affect signals to affective prosody and vice versa. Second, we found that decoding affective meaning seems considerably impaired from affective prosody. Many positive affect signals and especially vocal disgust showed extreme decoding impairments from affective prosody, with speech acoustics probably constraining affect encoding in prosody to a considerable degree. Only the recognizability of voice signals of threat seems to be largely preserved in affective prosody. In conclusion, it points to considerable discontinuities between nonverbal and paraverbal affect signals, which questions the evolutionary precursors of human affect signaling in voice communication. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

The dynamics of initiation in caregiver-child conversational interactions.

We investigated the dynamics of communicative initiation in infant-caregiver interactions across ages and language abilities. Analyses of 228 Language ENvironment Analysis (LENA) recordings from 141 Korean adult-child dyads (60 girls; aged 7-30 months) replicated the initiator effect reported in North American populations. This effect, demonstrated by longer utterances, more frequent speech, and shorter response times in self-initiated interactions for both children and adults, suggests potential cross-cultural consistency in this conversational dynamic and remained consistent across ages in most conversational measures. A focused analysis of 13-14 month-olds (N = 40) and their K-CDI scores revealed that the initiator effect in segment duration and number persisted across most vocabulary percentiles. Additionally, nuanced findings indicated that caregivers increased their input frequency and adjusted segment duration in adult-initiated conversations in tandem with children's higher receptive abilities. The robustness of the initiator role across cultures, ages, and vocabulary abilities points to a fundamental aspect of human communication.

The limits to growth(ism) in ChatGPT—corpus assisted discourse studies in AI-generated texts

The release of ChatGPT in 2022 has caused many concerns about the unpredictable consequences of popular AI usage in education, business, and other areas of human life. Some media have speculated about the adverse effects of AI on human communication, discourse, and even cognition, although the scholarly evidence to either confirm or dismiss such claims is very limited. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, the following article was designed as a corpus-assisted study of discourse in ChatGPT-generated texts, making it one of the first inquiries into AI discourse to date. The study analyzes the growthist bias in ChatGPT (4o version) and a possible methodology of reliable detection and measurement of bias in AI using corpus tools. Two differently composed corpora of the responses of ChatGPT in the semantic domain of the economy are studied quantitatively through the generation and statistical comparison of word frequency lists, keywords, and other measures. This procedure serves to objectify the qualitative analysis data, as well as to outline the size and range of bias. The results of the critical analysis of AI discourse and biases is treated as the crucial ground for any global discussion of AI impact on human discourse, as well as for the speculation on the ideological stance of the source information used for the initial training of the chatbot.

Linguistics: from the science of human language to its disciplines and applications

Linguistics is the science that studies human language in all its forms, focusing on the structure, evolution, and functions of languages. This article provides an overview of the various branches of linguistics, such as phonetics, phonology, lexicology, grammar (morphology and syntax), semantics, pragmatics, as well as more specialized fields like cognitive linguistics, paralinguistics, and psycholinguistics. It also discusses the historical developments of the discipline, including the emergence of major linguistic schools and the development of applied linguistics in the 20th century, influenced by technological advances. Finally, it describes several sub-disciplines, such as comparative linguistics, linguistic typology, and dialectology, which allow for the analysis of languages through different synchronic and diachronic perspectives. This analysis highlights the importance of linguistics in understanding language and human communication across time and space.

Platform gaslighting: A user-centric insight into social media corporate communications of content moderation

This paper delves into communications dynamics between social media platforms and their users as they navigate the opacity of governance policies. Using Meta and TikTok as case studies, we reveal that gaslighting – traditionally linked with relationship abuse where one partner undermines the validity of the other's experience – has become a pervasive communication strategy for platforms, manifesting in numerous instances where automated and human platform communications have directly contradicted users’ experiences, evidence and research. We analyse 36 diverse interview datasets and six public platform responses to content moderation issues, highlighting the systemic nature of this phenomenon within digital spaces. By moving beyond shadowbanning and isolated platform-to-user dialogue, we expand the scholarly understanding of platform gaslighting to encompass a broader spectrum of governance-related communications. Our dataset draws from seemingly disparate groups who share moderation experiences: Jewish creators engaged in combating antisemitism, Palestinian creators advocating for human rights and sex-positive creators, whose expertise and stories are dismissed and belittled by platforms. Our participants' experiences demonstrate that conceptualising platform communications as gaslighting can help expose corporate power imbalances in platform-user interactions, particularly in cases where platforms govern through undisclosed practices such as shadowbanning and de-platforming triggered by malicious flagging, along with ambiguous communication from their representatives. We demonstrate how the dismissal or minimisation of participants’ traumatic experiences by platforms’ automated processes and human teams is weaponised to inflict epistemic injustice, consolidate power, safeguard public image and evade accountability.

How the brain differentiates human and monkey faces: Neuromagnetic evidence from spatiotemporal dynamics

Face recognition is an important aspect of human non-verbal communication. Event-related potentials or magnetic fields, such as the N170/M170 component, are considered essential neural markers of face processing. Compared to upright human faces, inverted human faces and upright but not inverted animal faces cause longer latencies and larger amplitudes of these components. However, the mechanisms underlying this factor remain unclear. To elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of the processing of inverted human and animal faces, we recorded face-selective responses (M170) to upright and inverted human and monkey faces using a 306-channel whole-head magnetoencephalography. Sensor analysis showed an increased M170 latency and amplitude for inverted human and upright animal faces. However, in the source analysis, the observed modulations of the estimated spatiotemporal dynamics were different from the sensor results: irrespective of species, upright faces activated wider areas in the ventral and dorsal visual regions compared with inverted faces. Additionally, face orientation differentially modulated the anterior region of the fusiform gyrus (FG) in both face categories. These results suggest that spatiotemporal dynamics differ in face orientation regardless of category and that the FG contributes little or nothing to the M170 modulation recorded in the scalp sensor. Furthermore, we demonstrated that inverted human and animal faces are processed via different mechanisms.

The Synergistic impact of three pillars of human intelligence EQ, CQ, and Communication Quotient on Organizational Success

Many studies have been conducted to discover the different quotients of human intelligence because it attracts the interest of both the popular literature and within academia. The primary aim of this paper is to explore the interplay between different quotients of human intelligence including emotional intelligence quotient , communication quotient and creativity quotient to foster a culture of innovation and increasing productivity and employee satisfaction . Data for the study were collected for the field study from124 administrative employees working in private schools in Beirut, Lebanon to explain the importance of these three quotients. The descriptive analytical method was used depending on a closed survey to collect data. The findings show a relationship between the three quotients. emotional intelligence effects interpersonal relationship which positively effects strategic and therefore improve their employment competitiveness and administrative skills. Additionally, EQ, CQ, and communication skills

ChatGPT 활용 ‘真是’의 감정 색채 정량적 분석

In this paper, we utilized ChatGPT to quantitatively analyze the emotional coloring of ‘真是’, including the ratio of its positive and negative, neutral usage. Due to the limitations in analyzing a large number of sentences individually, we employed a research method leveraging ChatGPT. The analysis results showed that out of 1000 sentences, 531 (53.1%) exhibited positive emotional coloring, while 451 (45.1%) displayed negative emotional coloring, 18 (1.8%) exhibited positive emotional coloring. This indicates a higher frequency of positive emotional usage compared to the negative connotations suggested by dictionary definitions. This finding significantly contrasts with the definitions of ‘真是’presented in “The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (7th Edition)” and “Eight Hundred Words in Modern Chinese (Revised and Enlarged Edition)”. These dictionaries define ‘真是’ as a verb and idiom expressing negative emotions. However, examination of the CCL corpus reveals that ‘真是’ is not only used in these two ways but also frequently appears as an adverb. This raises the question of why these three usages are not fully defined in the aforementioned dictionaries. The three different uses of ‘真是’ can be viewed as part of a continuous and unified process of language evolution. Language is a tool for human communication, naturally evolving, transmitting, and adapting as people's living environments change. The combination of ‘真’ and ‘是’, originally words with substantial meanings, has evolved into a grammatical function word and further developed into a pragmatic discourse marker as an idiom. This process can be seen as a natural stage in the evolution of language.

Evaluation of the IMTAQ Religious Development Program Using SEM Approach in Asahan Regency

<p class="Default"><span lang="IN">The IMTAQ program, implemented by the Asahan Regency Government since 2011, aims to shape community character based on religious values. This study evaluates its effectiveness by analyzing input variables (socialization, training, funding, information media, technical guidelines, human resources, facilities, and implementing organizations), process variables (fund allocation, monitoring, administration, financial management, workshops), and output variables (internalization of IMTAQ values, preservation of Islamic cultural arts, Quranic development). Involving 552 participants from various community sectors, the findings highlight that information media, financial administration, and facilities are key success factors, with Quranic development and cultural preservation as main indicators. Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the evaluation revealed an 11% annual improvement in implementation. The results provide guidance for optimizing the program’s Management Information System (MIS), including human resources, technology, data, and communication networks.</span></p>