Toward Collaboration Sensing: Multimodal Detection of the Chameleon Effect in Collaborative Learning Settings

In this paper, I describe part of my doctoral dissertation in which I have attempted to automatically detect a phenomenon known as the chameleon effect in collaborative learning settings. The chameleon effect refers to non-conscious mimicry of other comportments (e.g. postures, mannerisms, facial expressions), such that one's behavior passively and unintentionally changes to match a partner’s behaviors. As described below, social mimicry is associated with more productive collaborations and potentially higher learning gains in classroom settings. I describe several studies where I was able to show that visual synchronization (i.e. joint attention), and verbal synchronization (i.e. discourse coherence) were associated with higher learning gains and better collaboration in groups of students, while body synchronization and grammatical mimicry did not predict any of those outcomes. I conclude by discussing implications for educational data mining and describe future work using additional measures such as voice synchronization (e.g. variations in pitch and volume) and arousal synchronization (i.e. variations in heart beat rhythms).