@inproceedings{tolksdorf-hanulikova-2026-speaker,
title = "Speaker gaze and disfluencies during storytelling toward a robot or a human: The role of partner type and temperamental shyness",
author = "Tolksdorf, Nils Frederik and
Hanul{\'i}kov{\'a}, Adriana",
editor = "Ghaleb, Esam and
Takmaz, Ece and
Frassinelli, Diego and
Khaertdinov, Bulat and
Fern{\'a}ndez, Raquel and
Yumak, Zerrin and
Ozyurek, Asli",
booktitle = "Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Multimodal Interaction in Face-to-Face Dialogue",
month = oct,
year = "2026",
address = "Budapest, Hungary",
publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",
url = "https://aclanthology.org/2026.mint-1.13/",
pages = "117--126",
ISBN = "979-8-89176-482-8",
abstract = "Storytelling in face-to-face dialogue involves coordinating multiple modalities, including speech and gaze. When the addressee is a social robot rather than a human, narrators' speech and gaze behavior may differ. However, few studies have examined both modalities within the same narratives, and it remains unclear how different aspects of multimodal behavior vary depending on whether the interaction partner is a social robot or a human. In this study, we examined how adults narrated picture-based stories to a social robot and a human interlocutor. Two modalities of narrative production were considered: pausing, separated into filled and unfilled pauses, and gaze behavior during the narration, directed either toward the story pictures or toward the listener. Critically, we examined whether shyness, considered as a continuous dimension of individual variation, relates to pausing and gaze behavior. Results revealed that speakers produced fewer filled pauses when narrating to the robot than to the human, while unfilled pauses did not differ. Additionally, higher shyness was associated with longer, though not more frequent, filled pauses in human-directed narration, although shyness did not reliably predict the magnitude of the partner effect. We discuss how our findings may contribute to a more nuanced understanding of multimodal interactions with embodied agents."
}<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<modsCollection xmlns="http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3">
<mods ID="tolksdorf-hanulikova-2026-speaker">
<titleInfo>
<title>Speaker gaze and disfluencies during storytelling toward a robot or a human: The role of partner type and temperamental shyness</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Nils</namePart>
<namePart type="given">Frederik</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Tolksdorf</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Adriana</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Hanulíková</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">author</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<dateIssued>2026-10</dateIssued>
</originInfo>
<typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource>
<relatedItem type="host">
<titleInfo>
<title>Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Multimodal Interaction in Face-to-Face Dialogue</title>
</titleInfo>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Esam</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ghaleb</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Ece</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Takmaz</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Diego</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Frassinelli</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Bulat</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Khaertdinov</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Raquel</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Fernández</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Zerrin</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Yumak</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<name type="personal">
<namePart type="given">Asli</namePart>
<namePart type="family">Ozyurek</namePart>
<role>
<roleTerm authority="marcrelator" type="text">editor</roleTerm>
</role>
</name>
<originInfo>
<publisher>Association for Computational Linguistics</publisher>
<place>
<placeTerm type="text">Budapest, Hungary</placeTerm>
</place>
</originInfo>
<genre authority="marcgt">conference publication</genre>
<identifier type="isbn">979-8-89176-482-8</identifier>
</relatedItem>
<abstract>Storytelling in face-to-face dialogue involves coordinating multiple modalities, including speech and gaze. When the addressee is a social robot rather than a human, narrators’ speech and gaze behavior may differ. However, few studies have examined both modalities within the same narratives, and it remains unclear how different aspects of multimodal behavior vary depending on whether the interaction partner is a social robot or a human. In this study, we examined how adults narrated picture-based stories to a social robot and a human interlocutor. Two modalities of narrative production were considered: pausing, separated into filled and unfilled pauses, and gaze behavior during the narration, directed either toward the story pictures or toward the listener. Critically, we examined whether shyness, considered as a continuous dimension of individual variation, relates to pausing and gaze behavior. Results revealed that speakers produced fewer filled pauses when narrating to the robot than to the human, while unfilled pauses did not differ. Additionally, higher shyness was associated with longer, though not more frequent, filled pauses in human-directed narration, although shyness did not reliably predict the magnitude of the partner effect. We discuss how our findings may contribute to a more nuanced understanding of multimodal interactions with embodied agents.</abstract>
<identifier type="citekey">tolksdorf-hanulikova-2026-speaker</identifier>
<location>
<url>https://aclanthology.org/2026.mint-1.13/</url>
</location>
<part>
<date>2026-10</date>
<extent unit="page">
<start>117</start>
<end>126</end>
</extent>
</part>
</mods>
</modsCollection>
%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Speaker gaze and disfluencies during storytelling toward a robot or a human: The role of partner type and temperamental shyness
%A Tolksdorf, Nils Frederik
%A Hanulíková, Adriana
%Y Ghaleb, Esam
%Y Takmaz, Ece
%Y Frassinelli, Diego
%Y Khaertdinov, Bulat
%Y Fernández, Raquel
%Y Yumak, Zerrin
%Y Ozyurek, Asli
%S Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Multimodal Interaction in Face-to-Face Dialogue
%D 2026
%8 October
%I Association for Computational Linguistics
%C Budapest, Hungary
%@ 979-8-89176-482-8
%F tolksdorf-hanulikova-2026-speaker
%X Storytelling in face-to-face dialogue involves coordinating multiple modalities, including speech and gaze. When the addressee is a social robot rather than a human, narrators’ speech and gaze behavior may differ. However, few studies have examined both modalities within the same narratives, and it remains unclear how different aspects of multimodal behavior vary depending on whether the interaction partner is a social robot or a human. In this study, we examined how adults narrated picture-based stories to a social robot and a human interlocutor. Two modalities of narrative production were considered: pausing, separated into filled and unfilled pauses, and gaze behavior during the narration, directed either toward the story pictures or toward the listener. Critically, we examined whether shyness, considered as a continuous dimension of individual variation, relates to pausing and gaze behavior. Results revealed that speakers produced fewer filled pauses when narrating to the robot than to the human, while unfilled pauses did not differ. Additionally, higher shyness was associated with longer, though not more frequent, filled pauses in human-directed narration, although shyness did not reliably predict the magnitude of the partner effect. We discuss how our findings may contribute to a more nuanced understanding of multimodal interactions with embodied agents.
%U https://aclanthology.org/2026.mint-1.13/
%P 117-126
Markdown (Informal)
[Speaker gaze and disfluencies during storytelling toward a robot or a human: The role of partner type and temperamental shyness](https://aclanthology.org/2026.mint-1.13/) (Tolksdorf & Hanulíková, MINT 2026)
ACL