Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft Leibniz-Gemeinschaft

COBRA - ESR5: Communicative alignment at the physiological level

ESR 5 "Communicative alignment at the physiological level" is a subproject of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network Conversational Brains (COBRA). The purpose of the COBRA network is to train the next generation of researchers (early-stage researchers; ESRs) to accurately characterize and model the linguistic, cognitive and brain mechanisms that allow conversation to unfold in both human-human and human-machine interactions.

Theoretical models of interactive alignment in dialogue have mostly focused on different levels of linguistic representations. ESR5’s project will consider alignment from the physiological level, with a focus on breathing and articulation. Physiological data will be recorded from speakers in different communicative settings, using the latest technology in this area. Moreover, speakers’ alignment at the physiological level will be tested with respect to body similarity (sex differences, i.e. female-male dyads for dissimilarity and female-female dyads for similarity) on the one hand, and social aspects (self-rated gender identity) on the other hand.