What Makes People Better at Describing Photographs?

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: This study is being conducted to learn more about how various personal and situational characteristics are related to the ability to provide verbal descriptions of photographs. Participants will perform a brief mental exercise, then see three photographs with instructions to describe each thoroughly. Participants will also complete several other surveys and measures. Collected data will give researchers a better understanding of how different variables relate to speech production.

Detailed Description: This study is being conducted to learn more about how various personal and situational characteristics are related to the the ability to provide verbal descriptions of photographs. Adult participants ages 18-30 and 65-80 will participate in videoconference calls during which they perform a brief mental exercise, then see three photographs with instructions to describe each thoroughly. Descriptions are to be 30 to 60 seconds in length and are audio recorded for later scoring. Participants will also complete several other surveys and measures, including some about anxiety, mindfulness, vocabulary, and demographics. Participation will take approximately 40 to 60 minutes. Collected data will be de-identified, and the aggregate data will give researchers a better understanding of how individuals' personality and cognitive traits and the mental exercise performed before the study relate to peoples' speech production performance.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Control	Mental Exercise	Participants follow instructions and listen to a 10-min audio clip of a story
Mindful Breathing	Mental Exercise	Participants follow instructions regarding a mindful breathing exercise on a 10-min audio clip

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Speech Rate	During the 40 to 60 minute experimental session	Average number of words per second spoken
Repetitions	During the 40 to 60 minute experimental session	Average number of repetitions as a percentage of words spoken
Speech Fillers Other	During the 40 to 60 minute experimental session	Average number of speech fillers not in the middle of a phrase as a percentage of words spoken
Speech Fillers Mid-Phrase	During the 40 to 60 minute experimental session	Average number of mid-phrase speech fillers as a percentage of words spoken
Repairs Plus False Starts	During the 40 to 60 minute experimental session	Average number of repairs plus false starts as a percentage of words spoken. These two measures reflect the same underlying process so are summed together; indeed, one or the other term is sometimes used to indicate both measures.