Our Research
We study the production and comprehension of verbal and nonverbal behavior across a variety of communicative settings. The verbal and nonverbal behavior includes fillers, hedges, discourse markers, backchannels, quotation devices, prosody, facial expressions, and gestures. The settings include face to face communication, virtual communication (such as audiovisual internet chat), vicarious learning (such as learning by listening in on others’ communication), and written communication. Some of the topics we explore are how sarcasm is produced and understood, how people respond to nonhuman agents, and how people come to be swayed by fake news. The methods we use in the lab include corpora analyses, reaction time experiments, referential communication tasks, questionnaires, and analyses of speech produced under controlled conditions.
IN THE NEWS
Wall Street Journal 2023: Our sounds of hesitation are more than filler
JSTOR Daily 2022: The horror!
UC Santa Cruz 2022: These red flags can let you know when you’re in an online echo chamber
Die Zeit 2021: Füllwörter ääääääääääääääh [Filler words uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh]
The Atlantic 2021: The pandemic has erased entire categories of friendship
The Walrus 2021: Blah blah blah: The lack of small talk is breaking our brains
Forbes 2021: Four ways to spark watercooler moments for your remote team
Curiosity Daily 2021: Small talk is important, and remote workers aren’t getting enough
New Scientist 2020: Speak like, uh, a pro
UC Santa Cruz 2020: Psychology research shows ‘water cooler talk’ can have big benefits
Psychology Today 2019: How is your voice perceived?
Babbel Magazine 2018: It’s, like, you know, science: Why we use fillers when we speak
New York (magazine) 2016: How to say ‘um’ and ‘like’ and also sound smart
Inc. 2016: Like, um, you can totally stop worrying about filler words, science says
RealClear Science 2015: Like, what's with saying 'like' like all the time?
RealClear Science 2015: Ummmm... here are seven facts you... uh... may have not known
University of California News 2014: Teaching computers the nuances of human conversation
Scientific American 2014: Hope and fear’s anti–sweet spot
The American Scholar 2014: The power of um
Monterey Herald 2008: When to use ”uh” instead of ”um”
Chronicle of Higher Education 2007: Using "like" to tell a story
New York Times 2004: Just like, er, words, not, um, throwaways
ABC News 2002: Psychologists say 'um' and 'uh' have meaning
Nature 2002: 'Er' cautions listeners to stay on side
New Scientist 1999: Grunt if you know what I mean...
Stanford Magazine 1999: Explaining the, uh, pauses in speech
All Things Considered 1998: The/the
New York Times 1998: As conversation aid, the 'oh's' have it