During face-to-face conversation, transitions between speaker turns are incredibly fast. These fast turn exchanges seem to involve next speakers predicting upcoming semantic information, such that next turn planning can begin before a current turn is complete. Given that face-to-face conversation also involves the use of communicative bodily…

Eye gaze plays a pivotal role during communication. When interacting deceptively, it is commonly believed that the deceiver will break eye contact and look downward. We examined whether children's gaze behavior when lying is consistent with this belief. In our study, 7- to 15-year-olds and adults answered questions truthfully ("Truth" questions)…

This article presents information on the development and validation of the Facial Expression Coding System (FACES; A. M. Kring & D. Sloan, 1991). Grounded in a dimensional model of emotion, FACES provides information on the valence (positive, negative) of facial expressive behavior. In 5 studies, reliability and validity data from 13 diverse…

Indicates that subjects signalled play through such messages as overt invitations, nonverbal cues, abrupt topic changes, and outrageous or put-on utterances. Determines that the nature of these messages led to different types of episodes: play with, for, or at a partner. Finds that the signalling of play is often incomplete or taken for granted by…

Subject pairs (N=18) participated in an alternating question-and-answer session at one of two interactional distances utilizing questions which increased in their intimacy content. Results indicated topic intimacy, but not distance, affected the embarrassment potential of the situation. Increases in embarrassment caused changes in nonverbal and…

Interviews were held with 88 mentally retarded institutionalized adults (ages 18 to 30) in order to identify types of verbal and nonverbal behavior that are associated with making positive or negative impressions on others and that therefore might be priority targets for communication training efforts. (Author)

A study investigated (1) how adult responses vary with children who display different rates of positive social behaviors, and (2) predictive sequential relationships between specific types of child and adult behavior within an interaction. Pretest data were used to select nine girls from 4 to 6 years of age who ranged from low to high in their…

The search for syntactical rules which govern nonverbal communication and cues in humans has often been considered a problem separate from determining semantic rules. Departing from such a traditional approach was accomplished by employing the meaning of various nonverbal channels to study their interrelationship. It was proposed that the…

Body movements and facial expressions of males and females in a restaurant setting were examined, with the goal of providing differences in frequency as a function of age and sex. The subjects (N-197 males and N=131 females) were seated in three Seattle fast food restaurants and were selected on a semi-random basis and then observed for three…

Developed as part of the Milieu Language Teaching Project at the John F. Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, this KIDTALK Behavior-Language Coding Protocol and manual measures behavior occurring during adult-child interactions. The manual is divided into 5 distinct sections: (1) the adult behavior codes describe…