Perspective-Taking in Conversation

面对面对话通常被认为是最基本的语言使用形式，因为随着语言的发展，它可能扮演着关键的角色，并且在语言习得和交流中继续发挥着重要作用。在国家科学基金会的支持下，研究人员将对互动对话中语言的使用和理解方式进行为期3年的研究。参与对话从根本上取决于我们对对话伙伴的知识和信念形成的洞察力。有时这些见解是正确的，有时它们严重失败，而有时这些见解根本就没有形成。这个项目将开发和测试一个理论框架，以了解这些洞察力是如何形成和使用的，以及至关重要的是，当它们失败时。这些实验将眼球跟踪技术与互动对话相结合，以实时研究这些过程。这个项目将提供关于语言中一个鲜为人知但核心的组成部分，即形成对另一个人的观点的洞察力，如何指导日常语言使用的关键见解。这项提案将为研究生和本科生提供广泛的实践研究机会。来自科学方面代表性不足的群体的本科生参与者将有机会通过伊利诺伊大学暑期研究机会计划参与。

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.