title: Conversational synchrony in the communicative interactions of individuals with traumatic brain injury.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess conversational synchrony in moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Conversational synchrony, assessed by the similarity and co-ordination of words and words per turn, allows for effective and efficient communication and enhances the development of rapport.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen participants with TBI (seven females) and 19 healthy comparison participants (CP; eight females) engaged in a 10-minute conversation with an unfamiliar partner.
  
  
  METHODS
  Conversational synchrony was assessed in these conversations by measuring the degree to which the participants' productions of words and words per turn became more similar to one another over the course of the session.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly more sessions with participants with TBI (11/18 for words, 9/18 for words per turn) compared to CP sessions (5/19 for words, 4/19 for words per turns) did not display conversational synchrony. Likewise, synchrony was significantly correlated with subjective ratings of the interaction from raters who were blind to participant status and the study hypotheses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that TBI can disrupt conversational synchrony and can, in turn, negatively impact social perceptions. The relationship between impaired conversational synchrony and other social communicative deficits in TBI warrants further study.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Augustana College , Rock Island , IL , USA .|b Department of Neurology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience .
authors.forename: Rupa Gupta
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: c Neuroscience Training Program , and.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rigon
authors.affiliation: b Department of Neurology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience .|c Neuroscience Training Program , and.|d Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders , University of Iowa , Iowa City , IA , USA.
authors.forename: Melissa C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Duff
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Communication accommodation; discourse; interpersonal co-ordination; speech convergence; traumatic brain injury