For better video conferencing, try speaking in turns

In the early days of the pandemic, video conferencing was the only way for many of us to work, socialize, see doctors, attend yoga classes, and many other activities. became a method. It’s now a staple of the work-from-home lifestyle. His two new studies, led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, ask whether these virtual versus face-to-face interactions make us work, act and feel differently, and what’s going on in our brains. I checked.

Although people generally worked equally effectively in both situations, we found that online interactions tended to reduce a particular aspect of the conversation: speaker turnover. Studies have shown that less turn-taking in these virtual meetings leads to lower positive emotions about the interaction. It was published April 5th Journal of Neuroscience.

“One of the mechanisms by which video conferencing changes the way we work together is by changing our speech behavior. Stephanie BaltersPh.D., postdoctoral fellow in the lab Alan RiceMD, Howard C. Robbins Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

another paper recently published cerebral cortexthe researchers reported follow-up findings.

They’ve found simple ways to boost positive feelings about interactions, whether face-to-face or online. It is an expression of gratitude towards others. In fact, neuroimaging has shown that when two people exchange gratitude (for example, for their partner’s creative ideas), parts of the brain involved in social cognition light up in synchrony.

Balters is the lead author and Reiss is the senior author of both studies.

lab work

To mimic laboratory work interactions, researchers paired 72 participants. Half pairs met in person. The other half will be on Zoom. Their interactions were recorded by video and audio, and brain activity was monitored using portable functional near-infrared spectroscopic neuroimaging, which measures changes in oxygenation in different parts of the brain.

Each pair was asked to collaborate on three work-related tasks that used different cognitive skills.

“I could have chosen any kind of task, but I chose problem-solving, creativity, and emotion-sharing tasks because I wanted them to be applicable to my work environment,” Balters said.

In a problem-solving task, researchers asked participants to identify the four most important traffic safety rules on US highways. In the creativity task, participants devised solutions to promote water conservation in California homes. Also, in the emotion sharing task, participants discussed when their needs were not met and how they felt.

Before and after each task, participants participated in several surveys to record their energy and stress levels, the duo’s performance on the task, and their feelings of intimacy with their partners. The researchers then reviewed the interaction recordings and objectively evaluated how well each pair performed on the task.

Take turns

One behavioral difference stood out. Virtual pairs switched speakers less often than face-to-face pairs. In other words, each person spoke longer before the other person responded or interrupted.

“I think people can relate to that,” Balters said. “People seem to be starting this queue less because it feels awkward to interrupt each other all the time on Zoom.”

Pairs that switched speakers more often reported greater feelings of cooperation and positive feelings about subjective performance. performed well.

“For virtual pairs, we saw a decrease in turn-taking, which is actually negative for their social interaction and task performance,” Balters said.

Perhaps because cues like gestures and facial expressions are lacking in virtual environments, turntaking has a huge impact on how we perceive interactions, Balters said.

light up the brain

When researchers examined neuroimaging data, they found a clear pattern. During face-to-face interactions, researchers found that the most interbrain coherence was seen during the emotion sharing task (when the two brains matched their activity), whereas virtual interactions showed more coherence during the task. Generated – Tasks of Solving and Creativity. More coherence isn’t necessarily better, says Balters, and could simply mean that the same parts of both brains are working harder. , it could mean that the partners are having trouble hearing each other.

Researchers also identified specific patterns of brain coherence associated with increased turn-taking.

“By understanding what is happening in the brain with neuroimaging, we can develop better technical interventions,” said Balters. “We may be able to help video conferencing companies improve their systems with new features that make queuing easier and bring brain activity as close to face-to-face interaction as possible.”

For now, researchers have tested non-technical interventions. After completing the task, the participant was asked to spend her two minutes expressing gratitude to her partner. Short-term exercise had a significant impact on brain activity.

“We found increased brain-to-brain coherence in different areas of the brain associated with social cognitive processing,” Balters said.

Afterwards, both face-to-face and virtual pairs reported feeling more connected to their partners.

“So, regardless of the forum, expressing gratitude to your partner is beneficial because it makes you feel more connected,” says Balters.

Dear readers, thank you for reading this article.

photo courtesy alex the rock