Learn about the modern benefits we’re getting from new archaeological discoveries, from researchers Mary Prendergast and Elizabeth Sawchuk. Then, you’ll learn about how people can hear body language in your voice.
Learn about the modern benefits we’re getting from new archaeological discoveries, from researchers Mary Prendergast and Elizabeth Sawchuk. Then, you’ll learn about how people can hear body language in your voice.
Additional resources from Mary Prendergast and Elizabeth Sawchuk:
People can hear body language in your voice by Grant Currin
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/modern-benefits-from-archaeological-discoveries-w-mary-prendergast-and-elizabeth-sawchuk-and-hearing-body-language
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about the modern benefits we’re getting from new archaeological discoveries, from researchers Mary Prendergast and Elizabeth Sawchuk. Then, you’ll learn about how people can hear body language in your voice.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Technological advances have helped archaeologists change what we know about oureslves. Over the last couple weeks, we’ve touched on some new discoveries from the world of archaeology, which are happening faster than ever. And today we’re wrapping up our conversation with researchers Mary Prendergast and Elizabeth Sawchuk by helping you understand the modern implications of these discoveries. Here’s Mary Prendergast with more.
[CLIP 4:36]
Pretty cool, right? Don’t say archaeologists never did anything for you. It turns out we can learn a thing or two from ancient humans, even in today’s world of advanced technology. Again, you just heard from, Elizabeth Sawchuk, a postdoctoral researcher and research assistant professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University in New York. And before that was Mary Prendergast, a professor of Anthropology and Share of Humanities at St Louis University’s Madrid Campus.
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ASHLEY: Can you hear someone’s body language? It sounds impossible, but early research says yes. In a recent, totally-made-for-podcast study, listeners were able to hear the way a speaker moved their hands and arms in their voice.
CODY: We have to try it.
ASHLEY: We do! The researchers started by recording three men and three women saying aaaaaa. They had them rhythmically move either their hand up and down at the wrist or their arm up and down at the elbow at different speeds while they spoke.
CODY: Like this? Aaaaaa (moves arm at medium speed)
ASHLEY: Yes! Then they took those recordings and asked 30 people to guess what the speakers were doing with their limbs while they were aaaaa-ing. It turned out to be really easy for most of them. A lot of them were even able to replicate the arm or wrist motions with their own bodies — just based on the recording. See if you can guess what Cody is doing here. I’m going to close my eyes.
CODY: Here we go. Aaaa (moves arm/wrist at slow/medium/fast speed, for a few seconds). Alright, can you guess what I was doing?
ASHLEY: I think you were...
CODY: That’s right! I was X, while trying to keep the rest of my body as still as possible.
ASHLEY: These aren’t exactly laboratory conditions, but I can see how it was so easy for the participants to guess what was going on! This was a simple study and the results are sort of intuitive, but it’s a really important finding because it gives us a more complete picture of the relationship between spoken language and body language. There will probably be a lot more work in this area, but the researchers think the acoustical change happens for two reasons.
First, moving your limbs — even your wrists--causes vibrations that move through your connective tissue and affect your lungs, which affects the sound of your voice. The second has to do with the muscles that help you keep you from falling over while flailing your arms around. Some of the muscles used to stay balanced surround the lungs, and tension in those muscles changes the acoustics of your body and the sound of your voice.
CODY: So what I’m hearing is that podcast hosts should keep talking with their hands?
ASHLEY: You gotta follow the research!
CODY: Let’s recap today’s takeaways
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CODY: Today’s last story was written by Grant Currin, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!