What Makes People Better at Describing Photographs?

What Makes People Better at Describing Photographs?

This study is being conducted to learn more about how various personal and situational characteristics are related to the ability to provide verbal descriptions of photographs. Participants will perform a brief mental exercise, then see three photographs with instructions to describe each thoroughly. Participants will also complete several other surveys and measures. Collected data will give researchers a better understanding of how different variables relate to speech production.

This study is being conducted to learn more about how various personal and situational characteristics are related to the the ability to provide verbal descriptions of photographs. Adult participants ages 18-30 and 65-80 will participate in videoconference calls during which they perform a brief mental exercise, then see three photographs with instructions to describe each thoroughly. Descriptions are to be 30 to 60 seconds in length and are audio recorded for later scoring. Participants will also complete several other surveys and measures, including some about anxiety, mindfulness, vocabulary, and demographics. Participation will take approximately 40 to 60 minutes. Collected data will be de-identified, and the aggregate data will give researchers a better understanding of how individuals' personality and cognitive traits and the mental exercise performed before the study relate to peoples' speech production performance.

Inclusion Criteria:

• fluent speakers of English
• ages 18-30 or ages 65-80

Exclusion Criteria:

• non-fluent speakers of English
• people who are not ages 18-30 or ages 65-80