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Videophones could make it harder, not easier, to communicate, according
to researchers at the universities of Glasgow and Nottingham who are starting
a three-year project on face-to-face communication this month. In some situations,
callers could be distracted by the poor quality images on early versions
of videophones. But when trying to convey complex information, video can
help the user significantly.

Previous work has already shown that, if people can see each other,
only two-thirds as many words are needed to convey information as when they
cannot see each other. So could videophones cut the amount of time we spend
on the phone? It is not that simple, says Simon Garrod of the Human Communication
Research Centre at Glasgow’s department of psychology.

Telephone lines can only carry a limited amount of data, so pictures
on a videophone are a compromise between fine resolution and frequent updating
of the picture. Some videophones update the picture less than 10 times per
second and the picture and the sound do not match very closely. This can
distract people enough to reduce the exchange of information.

The researchers will be looking at these problems and other aspects
of face-to-face communication. Garrod says the results of the work could
improve videophones and even help people who experience communication problems,
such as those suffering from brain damage or schizophrenia.

Chris Fowler, from the human factors division at British Telecom’s
laboratories in Suffolk, says that BT recognises the problems of infrequently
updated pictures. But he says they will be much less of a problem when people
use the Integrated Services Digital Network which is now used mostly by
businesses to carry sound, pictures and electronic data through normal phone
lines.

The researchers at Glasgow are analysing quantitatively the communication
between pairs of volunteers. Both volunteers are given a map of an island.
One map has a route across the island which must be described to the other
volunteer in ten minutes. When the test is complete, the researchers overlay
the two maps and measure the differences between the routes, to find the
quantity of information conveyed in the dialogue.

Some of the pairs of volunteers can see each other’s faces, and others
are ‘blind’. Garrod and his colleague Anne Anderson then try to assess how
the verbal and body language, including vocabulary, intonation and elision,
contributed to the communicated map route.

So far about 120 dialogues have been recorded between adults and children
as young as seven. The volunteers who could see each other interrupted half
as frequently as the ‘blind’ pairs and said ‘mmm’ and ‘yes’ less frequently.
‘This is possibly due to cues from the gaze which show when you think you’ve
finished your turn,’ says Garrod.

Claire O’Malley and Vicki Bruce at the University of Nottingham are
looking at information conveyed by the face and hands. So far it seems
that the eyes help the most when people are having communication problems.