Sumathi T A, Spinola Olivia, Singh Nandini Chatterjee, Chakrabarti Bhismadev
National Brain Research Centre, Language, Literacy and Music Laboratory, Manesar, India.
Department of Psychology, Universita` degli Studi di Milano Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Front Psychiatry. 2020 Feb 28;11:50. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00050. eCollection 2020.
Vocal modulation is a critical component of interpersonal communication. It not only serves as a dynamic and flexible tool for self-expression and linguistic information but also plays a key role in social behavior. Variation in vocal modulation can be driven by individual traits of interlocutors as well as factors relating to the dyad, such as the perceived closeness between interlocutors. In this study we examine both of these sources of variation. At an individual level, we examine the impact of autistic traits, since lack of appropriate vocal modulation has often been associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders. At a dyadic level, we examine the role of perceived closeness between interlocutors on vocal modulation. The study was conducted in three separate samples from India, Italy, and the UK. Articulatory features were extracted from recorded conversations between a total of 85 same-sex pairs of participants, and the articulation space calculated. A larger articulation space corresponds to greater number of spectro-temporal modulations (articulatory variations) sampled by the speaker. Articulation space showed a positive association with interpersonal closeness and a weak negative association with autistic traits. This study thus provides novel insights into individual and dyadic variation that can influence interpersonal vocal communication.
语音调制是人际交流的关键组成部分。它不仅是自我表达和语言信息的动态灵活工具，还在社会行为中发挥关键作用。语音调制的变化可能由对话者的个体特征以及与二元组相关的因素驱动，例如对话者之间感知到的亲密度。在本研究中，我们考察了这两种变化来源。在个体层面，我们研究自闭症特征的影响，因为缺乏适当的语音调制常与自闭症谱系障碍相关。在二元组层面，我们研究对话者之间感知到的亲密度对语音调制的作用。该研究在来自印度、意大利和英国的三个独立样本中进行。从总共85对同性参与者的录音对话中提取发音特征，并计算发音空间。较大的发音空间对应于说话者采样的更多频谱-时间调制（发音变化）。发音空间与人际亲密度呈正相关，与自闭症特征呈弱负相关。因此，本研究为可影响人际语音交流的个体和二元组变化提供了新的见解。
