Friday, May 03 2024 | Updated at 09:40 AM EDT

Stay Connected With Us F T R

Jan 24, 2017 11:17 AM EST

People are not made equal - some talk fast while others talk slowly. Despite what some people believe that fast talkers are smarter, a new study conducted at Brown University has found out that both types of speakers hold the same amount of information. So what's the difference?

In a study titled "Not so fast: Fast speech correlates with lower lexical and structural information," researchers led by Uriel Cohen Priva, assistant professor in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences of Brown, said that the speed how people speak is interrelated to the complexity of their speech.

According to Cohen Priva, speakers can only be categorized in two groups in terms of speech rate - they can either speak quickly or provide high information content. They cannot be both at the same time. Therefore, he concluded that those who speak fast use simpler sentences and easier sentence construction while slow speakers use more complicated and unexpected words when speaking. However, you get the same information from either a fast or slow speaker.

For the research, Cohen Priva analyzed 2,400 phone conversations from the Switchboard Corpus and 40 long interviews from the Buckeye Corpus. The analysis includes comparing the sentence structure whether it is passive or active, the frequency of words as well as the gender and age of the speaker. Another factor that he considered was how long it would take for each word to be spoken on average as opposed to how much time the speaker needed to say them.

Cohen Priva found out that slow talkers tend to use passive sentences. Moreover, the study also revealed that men present more information than women at the same speed rate. That could be due to the fact that women want their listeners to understand what they're saying.

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit

Follows speech, cognitive skills, personality traits
© 2024 University Herald, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Must Read

Common Challenges for College Students: How to Overcome Them

Oct 17, 2022 PM EDTFor most people, college is a phenomenal experience. However, while higher education offers benefits, it can also come with a number of challenges to ...

Top 5 Best Resources for Math Students

Oct 17, 2022 AM EDTMath is a subject that needs to be tackled differently than any other class, so you'll need the right tools and resources to master it. So here are 5 ...

Why Taking a DNA Test is Vital Before Starting a Family

Oct 12, 2022 PM EDTIf you're considering starting a family, this is an exciting time! There are no doubt a million things running through your head right now, from ...

By Enabling The Use Of Second-Hand Technology, Alloallo Scutter It's Growth While Being Economically And Environmentally Friendly.

Oct 11, 2022 PM EDTBrands are being forced to prioritise customer lifetime value and foster brand loyalty as return on advertising investment plummets. Several brands, ...