Convergence in Human Dialogues Time Series Analysis of Acoustic Feature

Convergence of acoustic/prosodic (a/p) features between two speakers is a well-known property of human dialogue. It has been suggested that this particular aspect of human interaction should be implemented in spoken dialogue systems, so that they can be perceived as more “humanlike”. This paper presents a quantitative analysis method that can provide information required for modeling the phenomenon of convergence. The analysis is a combination of TAMA, a previously introduced data extraction method, and bivariate time series analysis. Results show significant correlation of a/p features between speaker dyads in the recorded dialogues analyzed, and indicate a significant,amount of feedback, which a statistical verification of bidirectional convergence

Exploring the positive impact of peers on adolescent substance misuse.

Background: Previous research has consistently shown the negative impact that peers can have on adolescent substance use patterns. Few studies have examined the positive influence adolescents can have on their peers. This study aimed to examine the relationship of positive peer influence with indices of substance use and also to compare abstinent adolescents and substance-using adolescents on positive peer influence. Method: One hundred fifty-four adolescents (age range 12–20 years) completed a questionnaire on positive peer influence and other correlates of adolescent substance use including mental health, family functioning, and social support. Results: Positive peer influence was a significant predictor of lower substance use behaviors in adolescents, with positive influence from close friends being the strongest predictor. Substance-using adolescents' scores were significantly different from abstinent adolescents' scores for positive peer support, mental health functioning, impulsivity, and social support. Conclusions: These results indicate that positive influence from adolescents' peers may act as a protective factor in substance use. This influence should be utilized to aid the design of prevention and intervention initiatives in adolescent substance use

Towards Measuring Continuous Acoustic Feature Convergence in Unconstrained Spoken Dialogues

Acoustic/prosodic feature (a/p) convergence has been known to occur both in dialogues between humans, as well as in human-computer interactions. Understanding the form and function of convergence is desirable for developing next generation conversational agents, as this will help increase speech recognition performance and naturalness of synthesized speech. Currently, the underlying mechanisms by which continuous and bi-directional convergence occurs are not well understood. In this study, a direct comparison between time-aligned frames shows significant similarity in acoustic feature variation between the two speakers. The method described (TAMA) constitutes a first step towards a quantitative analysis of a/p convergence