Grand Challenge — Dyadic Interactions in the Lab

This session showed how social interaction can be studied by having pairs of participants interact directly in task-oriented laboratory settings.

What makes an interaction go well? We discussed different theoretical models and output measures that best capture when people interact successfully in joint problem-solving contexts — such as linguistic alignment and synergy — and their implications for coordination. And what happens when things don’t go so well? We looked at cases of miscommunication and the self- and other-repair mechanisms involved in overcoming them. The presentations and discussion also touched on aspects such as diversity and procedural coordination that have often been neglected in studies of dyadic interaction and dialogue.

Jonas Nölle introduced the topic, followed by guests Kristian Tylén (Aarhus University / Interacting Minds Centre) and Gregory Mills (University of Groningen).