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Clarity under cognitive constraint: Can a simple directive encourage busy speakers to avoid ambiguity?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2019

COURTNEY A. KURINEC Open the ORCID record for COURTNEY A. KURINEC [Opens in a new window] ,
ASHLEIGH V. T. WISE ,
CHRISTINA A. CAVAZOS ,
ELYSSE M. REYES  and
CHARLES A. WEAVER III
COURTNEY A. KURINEC*
Affiliation:
Baylor University
ASHLEIGH V. T. WISE
Affiliation:
Baylor University
CHRISTINA A. CAVAZOS
Affiliation:
Baylor University
ELYSSE M. REYES
Affiliation:
Baylor University
CHARLES A. WEAVER III
Affiliation:
Baylor University
*
†Address for correspondence: Courtney A. Kurinec, Department of Psychology, Washington State University, PO Box 644820, Johnson Tower 233, Pullman, WA 99164. Tel: 509-335-5956. Fax: 509-335-5043. E-mail: Courtney.Kurinec@wsu.edu
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Abstract

Failing to communicate a message in everyday settings can be a frustrating experience. However, miscommunication can lead to disaster in high-stakes situations. Yet in these contexts, under pressure to perform efficiently, speakers may also find themselves with limited resources to devote to message clarity. To understand how cognitive constraint affects communication and explore a possible low-cost solution, we investigated a method for moderating ambiguity production in the face of competing attentional demands: taking the perspective of the listener. Over two experiments, speakers labeled images (Experiment 1) or provided instructions (Experiment 2) to listeners in a non-interactive communication task. In both experiments, speakers were randomly assigned to cognitive constraint and perspective-taking conditions, such that some speakers were under higher cognitive constraint and some speakers received a simple perspective-taking directive. We replicated previous findings that additional cognitive constraint impairs speakers’ ability to avoid ambiguity. Additionally, we found that a simple directive can promote speaker clarity when labeling images, but not when providing instructions. These results suggest that a simple directive is likely insufficient to ensure speaker clarity in all cases.

Keywords

ambiguitycognitive loadperspective-takingcommunication
Type
Article
Information
Language and Cognition , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 2019 , pp. 621 - 644
Copyright
Copyright © UK Cognitive Linguistics Association 2019 

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Footnotes

*

Courtney A. Kurinec is now at the Department of Psychology, Washington State University. Charles A. Weaver III, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Baylor University. Ashleigh V. T. Wise is now at the Department of Psychology, University of Kansas; Christina A. Cavazos, and Elysse M. Reyes are no longer at Baylor University. The authors declare that there are no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this paper. We would like to thank our team of research assistants, without whose help this project would not have been possible. We would also like to thank the reviewers for critically reading this manuscript and providing substantive comments that strengthened the work.

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