Mechanisms of alignment: shared control, social cognition and metacognition

Gandolfi, G., Pickering, M. J. and Garrod, S. (2023) Mechanisms of alignment: shared control, social cognition and metacognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1870), 20210362. (doi: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0362) (PMID:36571124) (PMCID:PMC9791477)

Abstract

In dialogue, speakers process a great deal of information, take and give the floor to each other, and plan and adjust their contributions on the fly. Despite the level of coordination and control that it requires, dialogue is the easiest way speakers possess to come to similar conceptualizations of the world. In this paper, we show how speakers align with each other by mutually controlling the flow of the dialogue and constantly monitoring their own and their interlocutors' way of representing information. Through examples of conversation, we introduce the notions of shared control, meta-representations of alignment and commentaries on alignment, and show how they support mutual understanding and the collaborative creation of abstract concepts. Indeed, whereas speakers can share similar representations of concrete concepts just by mutually attending to a tangible referent or by recalling it, they are likely to need more negotiation and mutual monitoring to build similar representations of abstract concepts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Concepts in interaction: social engagement and inner experiences’.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement (grant no. 859588). S.G.’s contribution was funded through a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship (grant no. EM-2020-038\10).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Pickering, Professor Martin and Garrod, Professor Simon

Creator Roles

Pickering, M. J.: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Garrod, S.: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing

• Authors: Gandolfi, G., Pickering, M. J., and Garrod, S.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
• Journal Name: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
• Publisher: The Royal Society
• ISSN: 0962-8436
• ISSN (Online): 1471-2970
• Published Online: 26 December 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 378(1870): 20210362
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License