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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Commun.
Sec. Multimodality of Communication
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2025.1524453
Gaze behaviour and vocal feedback in task-based dyadic conversations with and without eye contact Author 1* , Author 2 , Author 3 1 Affiliation 2 Affiliation 3 Affiliation
Provisionally accepted- 1 University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
- 2 University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
- 3 Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Catalonia, Spain
Human communication is multimodal, with verbal and non-verbal cues like eye gaze and vocal feedback being crucial for managing interactions. While much research has focused on eye gaze and turn alternation, few studies explore its relationship with turn-regulating vocal feedback. This study investigates this interplay during a Tangram game in Italian under two visibility conditions: face-toface and separated by a screen. Results show that feedback producers rarely look at receivers, while receivers more frequently look at producers, suggesting that they might be eliciting vocal feedback. Without visual contact, gaze shifts decrease and vocal feedback increases. Interestingly, when visual contact is absent, gaze directed towards the addressee does not coincide with vocal feedback, raising questions about what prompts this gaze.
Keywords: turn-taking, eye gaze, vocal feedback, Face-to-face dialogue, Non-Visibility
Received: 07 Nov 2024; Accepted: 04 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sbranna, Savino, Baills and Grice. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Simona Sbranna, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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