by Playfuls Staff |
24th July 2006
U.S. scientists say they've determined people spontaneously use a system of "verbal gestures" when they speak. [more]
University of Chicago scientists say the previously uninvestigated
form of communication dubbed "analog acoustic expression" is a kind of
verbal gesturing that expands people's capacity to communicate and
typically occurs with little intention on the part of the speaker.
Although researchers have long been aware people modulate their
speech, psychology Professor Howard Nusbaum said scientists had assumed
some modulation was intentional, designed to emphasize points or
communicate emotion.
The new discovery, Nusbaum said, is the first experimental evidence
showing people unconsciously modulate their voices to provide an
additional channel of expression.
"Someone will raise his voice slightly at the end of the sentence
when saying, 'the stock market is going up' or lower it when saying
'the stock market is going down,'" said Nusbaum, a co-author of the
study and chairman of the university's psychology department. Such
modulations also make telephone conversations and words spoken on the
radio more comprehensible, he added.
The research appears in the current issue of the Journal of Memory and Language.
© 2006 UPI
