Texting, e-mailing, IMing, DMing. These methods are great ways to ___1___—but they also carry the risk of miscommunication. The lack of vocal ___2___ is one reason, but there are other more subtle cues we lack in digital conversation.

In a recent study, seven pairs of subjects controlled virtual avatars. One avatar described a word without mentioning the actual word. For example, for the word "water," you might say "wet." The other avatar tried to guess the word

Researchers found the pairs were much more successful in communicating the word when both avatars used hand gestures, as opposed to when one, or both, of the two avatars ___3___.

The study is in the journal Public Library of Science One.

In a second experiment the researchers had some of the “guessing” avatars ___4___ as pre-recorded animations. So the avatars’ gestures while listening did not necessarily match the gestures of real listeners. And their communication was less successful than pairs that ___5___ with genuine gestures.

The study provides evidence that communication is really two-way. And that active listening, with appropriate gestures, can be as important for understanding as what’s being said.

【視聽版科學(xué)小組榮譽出品】
keep in touch inflection stayed completely still portrayed interacted
發(fā)短信、發(fā)郵件、網(wǎng)上聊天、玩游戲等等等等都是保持聯(lián)系的好方法——同時也有可能誤傳信息。聽不到對方聲音是一個原因,在這種數(shù)字交談中我們還缺少很多提示。 最近一項研究中,7對研究對象控制圖標(biāo)然后交流。其中一個人描述詞義,另一個人猜。例如一個人設(shè)置“wet”圖標(biāo),另一個人猜“water”。 研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn),兩個人都使用手勢圖標(biāo)的人溝通起來更有默契,只有一個人用或者兩個都不用,那溝通起來就沒那么順利。 《公共科學(xué)圖書館?綜合》上刊登了這項研究報告。 另一項實驗中,研究人員讓猜詞一方設(shè)置預(yù)先錄制的圖像,因此在猜詞過程中,手勢圖像就會和對方描述不匹配,效果也就沒有一問一答比手勢的組好了。 這項研究表明,交流是雙向的。和說話內(nèi)容相比,認真聽對方說話,外加適當(dāng)?shù)氖謩輰τ诶斫鈱Ψ絹碚f也一樣重要。