Vocal feedback and eye gaze patterns in Italian task-based dyadic conversations

Previous research has provided evidence of the interaction between eye gaze and turn-taking, showing that turn yielding is generally signalled with mutual gaze, whereby the primary speaker assesses the interlocutor’s availability, which is subsequently confirmed by the interlocutor, as the next or secondary speaker reciprocates the gaze. However, the relation between eye gaze and turn-regulating vocal feedback signals, indicating the intention to take the conversational floor or not, can be influenced by different experimental designs. In task based conversations, turn-regulating vocal feedback reportedly occurs predominantly when speakers avert their gaze. In this study, we investigate the relation between turn-regulating vocal feedback and eye gaze patterns, extending the binary paradigm of averted versus mutual gaze to include unilateral gaze, which can be directed towards the interlocutor when feedback signals are followed by a turn. We also find by-dyad variability, which we attribute to the fact that interlocutors can use the vocal and visual channels of communication together or separately.