The influence of emotional and cognitive processes in the definition of speech rate Marco Tonti Università di Bologna

Table of Contents The Therapeutic Cycle Model (TCM) Influence of the TCM processes on the Rate of Speech (Main idea) Definition and extraction of data Statistical results Conclusions

Divides the text in blocks of words Therapeutic Cycle Model Defines emotional and cognitive dynamics Based on transcripts Computes the density of emotional and cognitive words Abstract words are markers for cognition Mergenthaler (1996)

TCM – Prototypical Cycle Word frequencies are standardized asZ-scored values Insight

TCM – Example Word frequencies are standardized as Z-scored values

Table of Contents The Therapeutic Cycle Model (TCM) Influence of the TCM processes on the Rate of Speech (Main idea) Extraction of data Statistical results Conclusions

Main idea (TCM and ROS) An high emotion level causes slowdonws due to hesitations. An high cognition level causes slowdowns due to intense elaboration. Low ROS is expected to be a marker for the phenomenon of insight. Insight

TCM and ROS (2) Higher ROS in I quadrant Average ROS in II and IV quadrants Lower ROS in III quadrant

Mental Processes Mental processes as OS processes Resurces drained by processes in need for them Physical effects of resource variation Variation of the speaking rate

Table of Contents The Therapeutic Cycle Model (TCM) Influence of the TCM processes on the Rate of Speech (Main idea) Definition and extraction of data Statistical results Conclusions

Defining the ROS Text-based methods: Words per second Characters per second Acoustical methods Phones per second Syllables per second

Aligning recording and transcript The transcriptand the recordinghave been aligned on the basis ofsmall segmentslasting roughly 2 s and containing from 1 to 6 words.The ROShas been computed for each segment.The TCM word blocks are composed by grouping the segments.

Analyzed session info 36 years old female subject (Romina) In therapy for eating disorders Psychodynamic therapy, one session per week Treatment lasted for 8 months This study is based on the 4 th session of the terapy.

Table of Contents The Therapeutic Cycle Model (TCM) Influence of the TCM processes on the Rate of Speech (Main idea) Extraction of data Statistical results Conclusions

Correlation between TCM and ROS Word block 175 words Spearman Significance (<0.05)

Other statistics The ROS value varies much more rapidly than the TCM value. (The time-scale issue) The available amount of data is small. (Few word blocks for each session)

Disaggregation of word blocks Each word block is composed by small segments. The TCM value of each block is inherited by the composing segments. This procedure allows a fine-grained analysis of the rate of speech.

Inferential statistics The test has been run on the four groups of segments belonging to the phases Relaxing, Experiencing, Connecting and Reflecting. The Kruskal-Wallis test showed a significant difference, for blocks of 175 words, in the mean ROS (CPS) of each group: prob>χ 2 = (<0.05)

Table of Contents The Therapeutic Cycle Model (TCM) Influence of the TCM processes on the Rate of Speech (Main idea) Extraction of data Statistical results Conclusions

Conclusions (1) This pilot study: Tends to confirm a connection between ROS and TCM. Defines low ROS as a marker for insight phases. Is based on values that can be extracted on a purely acoustical fashion.

Conclusions (2) Defines a procedure to further the research in this field, and to improve the research on TCM. Could allow to skip the heavy work of transcribing the sessions.