The Effects of Dyadic Conversation on

Cognitive Thinking
Colin Lippert
Queens University of Charlotte
Introduction
Social interaction is an important part of
everyday life. The medium for social
interaction is changing as science
moves forward and this study intends to
expand on previous findings in regard to
the differences that can occur through
the various methods of social
interaction. For this study two different
methods were compared. The first
condition involved computer mediated
interactions, this means that
participants would interact via a
computer messenger application. The
second condition held face-to-face
interactions. Following a short cognitive
test
the
results
were
compared
to
look
Method
for
the
effects
of
the
respective
40 participants, 20 participants for each
mediums.
condition (face-to-face interaction and
computer-mediated interaction) were
recruited from Queens University of
Charlotte
The sample ranged in age from 18 to
28, with 82.5% of the participants under
the age of 21.
In order to accurately test my
hypothesis 20 females and 20 males
were recruited.
For the dependent variable a cognitive
test was used from The Manual for the
Kit of Factor-Referenced Cognitive Test
(Ekstrom, French, Harman, & Kermen,
1976)
The cognitive test consisted of the
ability to follow 10 complex directions.
For every question answered wrong, .25
was deducted from the final score.
A self-designed questionnaire was used
to examine the quality of the interaction
and level of trust they felt with the
confederate (person they had a
conversation with)
Demographic information was also
collected in order to further examine
the sample

Hypotheses

Cognitive Test Scores by Class

8.5
7.22
6.38
5.3

T-test of Cognitive Score by Interaction Method

8
6.96

6.28

6
5
Cognitive Score Mean

4
3
2
1
0

Face-to-Face

Computer-Mediated
Interaction Method

T-test of Cognitive Score and Interaction Methods by Gender

7.05
6.88

6.58

5.98

Face-to-Face

Computer-Mediated

Correlation of Cognitive Score and Trust

12

10

Cognitive Score Mean

Participants will score higher on the

cognitive test in the face-to-face
condition than in the computer-mediated
communication condition.
Participants who rate higher on the trust
scale will score higher on the cognitive
test.
Results
Women will score higher than men on the
cognitive test in the face-to-face
None of the hypotheses in this study were
interaction condition
supported
An Independent samples t-test was
conducted to compare cognitive test
scores in face-to-face and computermediated conditions. There was no
significant difference in the scores for
face-to-face (M = 6.96, SD = .38) and
computer mediated (M = 6.28, SD =
2.73) conditions; t(38) = 0.95, p = 0.35.
A Pearson correlation was computed to
assess the relationship between trust and
cognitive test score. There was no
correlation between the two variables, r =
0.127, n = 40, p = 0.436
An Independent-samples t-test was
conducted to compare cognitive test
scores between male and females in the
face-to-face condition. There was no
Discussion
significant difference in the scores for
The
data
collected
suggest
that
Face-tomale (M = 7.05, SD = 1.90) and female
Face
or no effect
(M =interactions
6.88, SD = have
1.62)little
conditions;
t(18)on
=
cognitive
When looking at the
0.222, p processing.
= 0.827.
difference between the two conditions
there is a slight increase in scores for the
face-to-face condition despite the absence
of significance. Similarly there was not a
significant correlation between cognitive
scores and trust. However the current data
trend suggests that a more evident
positive correlation could manifest if a
larger sample was collected. Interestingly
for the male participants there appears to
be a greater margin between conditions,
when the females scored similarly in both.
Future research may look to interpret this
gap with more emphasis on why females