Perspective-Taking in Conversation

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Face-to-face conversation is often considered the most basic form of language use, as it likely played a key role as languages evolved and it continues to play important roles in language acquisition and communication. With support from the NSF, the investigator will conduct a 3-year study of the way language is used and understood in interactive conversation. Engaging in conversation fundamentally depends on the insights we form about the knowledge and beliefs of our conversational partner. Sometimes these insights are correct, sometimes they fail dramatically, and other times the insights are not formed at all. This project will develop and test a theoretical framework for understanding how these insights are formed and used and, crucially, when they fail. The experiments combine eye-tracking technology with interactive conversation to study these processes in real time. This project will provide key insights into how a poorly understood but core component of language, that is, forming insights about the perspective of another person, guides every-day language use. This proposal will provide opportunities for extensive, hands-on research for graduate and undergraduate students. Undergraduate participants from groups that are underrepresented in science will have the opportunity to participate through the University of Illinois Summer Research Opportunity Program.