Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The conversational process of signaling and recognizing certainty levels contributes to the natural and smooth interaction between two people. This research aimed at examining the reliability of signals of uncertainty within and across communication channels during face-to-face interaction. The research consisted of 2 distinct stages. The conversation study at Stage I investigated peoples’ daily conversational patterns under uncertainty. It was designed to elicit various kinds and levels of uncertainty so that analysts could observe and capture how people verbally and nonverbally express uncertainty during face-to-face conversation. The signal identification experiment at Stage II involved recognizing the captured uncertainty expressions. Another group of participants viewed and/or listened to the recordings and rated perceived levels of uncertainty levels. The results suggest that there are reliable behavioral clues for degrees of uncertainty and that these clues seem to be present in the nonverbal behavior of people (video only, audio only, audio-video, but not text only). Taken together, this research provides not only empirical evidence of a reliable uncertainty expression, but suggests a framework to study human behaviors under a certain cognitive and/or emotive state.