Susan Brennan, Ph.D.
Stanford University (1990)
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Contact: susan.brennan@stonybrook.edu |
Research Interests:
I am a cognitive scientist who studies the psychology of language use--in particular, interactive spoken dialogue. Some of my current studies use eye-tracking, either as a measure of language processing or as a mode of communication. I also study the human use of technology, especially speech and language interfaces to computers. Previously, I developed a computational model of caricature.
Current Research:
The psycholinguistics of spoken dialogue; eye gaze as a nonverbal signal and as an on-line measure of language processing; coordination of speaking and listening in conversation; production and comprehension of referring expressions; joint attention and coordination; speech disfluencies; audience design; writing for a reader's comprehension; spoken dialogue interfaces to computers; human-AI interaction; multimodal communication; communication between native and non-native speakers of English
Representative Publications:
Publications (*identifies postdoc or student co-author):
Galati, A. & Brennan, S. E. (2021). What is retained about common ground? Distinct effects of linguistic and visual co-presence. Cognition, 215, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104809.
Muller-Parker, G., Brennan, S., & Jones, E. C. (2020). Cancel Cuts to Graduate Research Fellowships. Science, 367(6477), 519.
Muller-Parker, G., Brennan, S. E., & Jones, E. C. (2020). Why fellowships? A funding model worth defending. GradEdge: Insights on Graduate Education and Research, 9, 4-8.
Hanna, J. E. & Brennan, S. E., & Savietta, K.* (2020). Eye gaze and head orientation cues in face-to-face referential communication. Discourse Processes, 57(3), 201-223.
Brennan, S. E., Kuhlen, A. K., & Charoy, J.* (2018). Discourse and Dialogue. In
S. L. Thompson-Schill (Ed.), The Stevens’ Handbook of Experimental Psychology and
Cognitive Neuroscience, Fourth Edition, Language and Thought volume (pp. 145-209). Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
Amati, F.* & Brennan, S. E. (2018). Eye Gaze as a Cue for Recognizing Intention and
Coordinating Joint Action. In G. Brone & B. Oben (Eds.), Eye-tracking in interaction (Advances
in Interaction series). John Benjamins.
Kuhlen, A. K., Bogler, C., Brennan, S. E., & Haynes, J. D. (2017). Brains in dialogue:
Decoding neural preparation of speaking to a conversational partner. Social, Cognitive,
and Affective Neuroscience, 12(6), 871-880.
Brennan, S. E. & Hanna, J. E. (2017). Psycholinguistic approaches: Meaning and understanding.
In E. Weigand (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Dialogue (pp. 93-108). New
York: Taylor & Francis/Routledge.
Horton, W. S. & Brennan, S. E. (2016). The role of metarepresentation in the production
and resolution of referring expressions. In K. van Deemter, E. Krahmer, A. Gatt, &
R. P.G. van Gompel (Eds.), Frontiers in Psychology: Models of Reference (pp. 1-12).
Hwang, J., Brennan, S. E., & Huffman, M. K. (2015). Phonetic adaptation in non-native
spoken dialogue: Effects of priming and audience design. Journal of Memory and Language,
81, 72-90.
Galati, A.* & Brennan, S. E. (2014). Speakers adapt gestures to addressees’ knowledge:
Implications for models of co-speech gesture. Language, Cognition, and Neuroscience,
29, 435-451.
Brennan, S. E., Schuhmann, K. S.*, & Batres, K. M.* (2013). Entrainment on the move
and in the lab: The Walking Around Corpus. In M. Knauff, M. Pauen, N. Sebanz, & I.
Wachsmuth (Eds.), Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp.
1934-1939). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
Brennan, S. E., Schuhmann, K.*, & Batres, K.* (2013). Collaboratively setting perspectives
and referring to locations across multiple contexts. In workshop proceedings, Production of referring
expressions: Bridging the gap between cognitive and computational approaches to reference,
35th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, July 31, Berlin, Germany.
Kuhlen, A. K.* & Brennan, S. E. (2013). Language in dialogue: When confederates might
be hazardous to your data. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20, 54- 72. (published
online 11/27/12).
Kuhlen, A. K.*, Galati, A.*, & Brennan, S. E. (2012). Gesturing integrates top-down
and bottom-up information: Effects of speakers’ expectations and addressees’ feedback. Language
& Cognition, 4, 17–41.
Brennan, S. E., Hanna, J. E., Zelinsky, G. J., & Savietta, K. J.* (2012). Eye gaze
cues for coordination in collaborative tasks. DUET 2012: Dual eye tracking in CSCW;
2012 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Seattle, WA.
Brennan, S. E. (2012). Conversation and dialogue. In H. Pashler (Ed.), Encyclopedia
of the Mind (vol. 1, pp. 202-205). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
Brennan, S. E., Galati, A.*, & Kuhlen, A.* (2010). Two minds, one dialog: Coordinating
speaking and understanding. In B. H. Ross (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation,
Vol. 53 (pp. 301-344). Burlington: Academic Press.
Neider, M. B.*, Chen, X.*, Dickinson, C. A.*, Brennan, S. E., & Zelinsky. G. J. (2010). Coordinating spatial
referencing using shared gaze. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 17, 718-724.
Kuhlen, A. K.* & Brennan, S. E. (2010). Anticipating distracted addressees: How speakers’
expectations and addressees’ feedback influence storytelling. Discourse Processes,
47, 567-587.
Galati, A.* & Brennan, S. E. (2010). Attenuating information in spoken communication:
For the speaker, or for the addressee? Journal of Memory and Language, 62, 35–51.
Brennan, S. E. & Hanna, J. E.* (2009). Partner-specific adaptation in dialogue. Topics in
Cognitive Science (Special Issue on Joint Action), 1, 274-291.
Kraljic, T.*, Samuel, A. G., & Brennan, S. E. (2008). First impressions and last resorts:
How listeners adjust to speaker variability. Psychological Science, 19, 332-338.
Kraljic, T.*, Brennan, S. E. & Samuel, A. G. (2008). Accommodating Variation: Dialects,
Idiolects, and Speech Processing. Cognition, 107, 54-81.
Ekeocha J. O.*, & Brennan, S. E. (2008). Collaborative recall in face-to-face and electronic
groups. Memory, 16, 245-261.
Stent, A., Huffman, M. K. & Brennan, S. E. (2008). Adapting speaking after misrecognition:
A study of hyperarticulation. Speech Communication, 50, 163-178.
Brennan, S. E., Chen, X.*, Dickinson, C.*, Neider, M.*, & Zelinsky, G. (2008). Coordinating
cognition: The costs and benefits of shared gaze during collaborative search. Cognition,
106, 1465-1477.
Hanna, J. E.* & Brennan, S. E. (2007). Speakers' eye gaze disambiguates referring expressions
early during face-to-face conversation. Journal of Memory and Language, 57, 596-615.
Brennan, S. E., Mueller, K., Zelinsky, G., Ramakrishnan, I.V., Warren, D. S., & Kaufman,
A. (2006). Toward a Multi-Analyst, Collaborative Framework for Visual Analytics. IEEE
Symposium on Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST 2006). Baltimore, MD.
Brennan, S. E., & Lockridge, C. B.* (2006). Computer-mediated communication: A cognitive
science approach. In K. Brown (Ed.), ELL2, Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd
Edition (pp. 775-780). Oxford, UK: Elsevier Ltd.
Brennan, S. E. (2005). How conversation is shaped by visual and spoken evidence. In
J. Trueswell & M. Tanenhaus (Eds.), Approaches to studying world-situated language
use: Bridging the language-as-product and language-as-action traditions (pp. 95-129). Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press.
Kraljic, T.*, & Brennan, S. E. (2005). Using prosody and optional words to disambiguate
utterances: For the speaker or for the addressee? Cognitive Psychology, 50, 194–231.
Stein, R.* & Brennan, S. E. (2004). Another person's eye gaze as a cue in solving programming
problems. Proceedings, ICMI 2004, Sixth International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces (pp. 9-15),
Penn State University, State College, PA.
Brennan, S. E. & Metzing, C. A.* (2004). Two steps forward, one step back: Partner-specific
effects in a psychology of dialogue. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 27, 192-193.
Schober, M. F., & Brennan, S. E. (2003). Processes of interactive spoken discourse:
The role of the partner. In A. C. Graesser, M. A. Gernsbacher, & S. R. Goldman (Eds.), Handbook
of discourse processes (pp. 123-164). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Metzing, C.* & Brennan, S. E. (2003). When conceptual pacts are broken: Partner-specific
effects in the comprehension of referring expressions. Journal of Memory and Language,
49, 201-213.
Lockridge, C. B., & Brennan, S. E. (2002). Addressees’ needs influence speakers’
early syntactic choices. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 550-557.
Brennan, S. E. (2002). Visual co-presence, coordination signals, and partner effects
in spontaneous spoken discourse. Journal of the Japanese Cognitive Science Society,
9, 7-25.
Kraut, R. E., Fussell, S. R., Brennan, S. E., & Siegel, J. (2002). Understanding effects
of proximity on collaboration: Implications for technologies to support remote collaborative work.
In P. Hinds & S. Kiesler, Distributed work (pp. 137-162). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Brennan, S. E., & Schober, M. F. (2001). How listeners compensate for disfluencies
in spontaneous speech. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 274-296.
Bortfeld, H.*, Leon, S. D.*, Bloom, J. E.*, Schober, M. F., & Brennan, S. E. (2001). Disfluency
rates in spontaneous speech: Effects of age, relationship, topic, role, and gender. Language and
Speech, 44, 123-149.
Gerrig, R. H., Brennan, S. E., & Ohaeri, J. O.* (2001). What characters know: Projected
knowledge and projected co-presence. Journal of Memory and Language , 44, 81-95.
Brennan, S. E. (2000). Processes that shape conversation and their implications for
computational linguistics. Proceedings, 38th Annual Meeting of the ACL (pp. 3-10). Hong Kong: Association
of Computational Linguistics.
Gerrig, R. H., Brennan, S. E., & Ohaeri, J. O.* (2000). What can we conclude from
speakers behaving badly? Discourse Processes, 29, 173-178.
Gerrig, R. H., Ohaeri, J. O.*, & Brennan, S. E. (2000). Illusory transparency revisited. Discourse
Processes, 29, 137-159.
Cahn, J. E., & Brennan, S. E. (1999). A psychological model of grounding and repair
in dialog. Proceedings, AAAI Fall Symposium on Psychological Models of Communication
in Collaborative Systems (pp. 25-33). North Falmouth, MA: American Association for
Artificial Intelligence.
Brennan, S.E., & Schober, M.F. (1999). Uhs and interrupted words: The information available
to listeners. In Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences,
Satellite Meeting on Disfluency in Spontaneous Speech (pp. 19-22), Berkeley, CA.
Bortfeld, H.*, Leon, S. D.*, Bloom, J. E.*, Schober, M. F., & Brennan, S. E. (1999).
Which speakers are most disfluent in conversation, and when? In Proceedings of the
14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Satellite Meeting on Disfluency
in Spontaneous Speech (pp. 7-10), Berkeley, CA.
Brennan, S. E., & Ohaeri, J. O.* (1999). Why do electronic conversations seem less polite? The
costs and benefits of hedging. Proceedings, International Joint Conference on Work Activities,
Coordination, and Collaboration (WACC '99) (pp. 227-235). San Francisco, CA: ACM.
Brennan, S. E. (1998). The grounding problem in conversation with and through computers. In
S. R. Fussell & R. J. Kreuz (Eds.), Social and cognitive psychological approaches
to interpersonal communication (pp. 201-225). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Bortfeld, H.*, & Brennan, S. E. (1997). Use and acquisition of idiomatic expressions
in referring by native and non-native speakers. Discourse Processes, 23, 119-147.
Brennan, S. E. (1997). Centering as a psychological resource for achieving joint
reference in spontaneous discourse. In M. Walker, E. Prince, and A. Joshi (Eds.), Centering
in discourse (pp. 227-249). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Brennan, S. E., & Clark, H. H. (1996). Conceptual pacts and lexical choice in conversation. Journal
of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 6, 1482-1493.
Brennan, S. E. (1996). Lexical entrainment in spontaneous dialog. Proceedings, 1996 International
Symposium on Spoken Dialogue (ISSD-96) (pp. 41-44). Acoustical Society of Japan: Philadelphia, PA.
Brennan, S. E., & Williams, M.* (1995). The feeling of another's knowing: Prosody
and filled pauses as cues to listeners about the metacognitive states of speakers. Journal
of Memory and Language, 34, 383-398.
Brennan, S. E. (1995). Centering attention in discourse. Language and Cognitive Processes,
10, 137-167.
Brennan, S. E., & Hulteen, E. (1995). Interaction and feedback in a spoken language
system: A theoretical framework. Knowledge-Based Systems, 8, 143-151.
Brennan, S. E., & Ohaeri, J. O.* (1994). Effects of message style on users' attributions
toward agents. CHI '94, Human Factors in Computing Systems, Conference Companion (pp.
281-282). Boston, MA.
Brennan, S. E. (1991). Conversation with and through computers. User Modeling and
User-Adapted Interaction, 1, 67-86.
Whittaker, S. J., Brennan, S. E., & Clark, H. H. (1991). Coordinating activity: An
analysis of interaction in computer-supported cooperative work. Proceedings, CHI
'91, Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 361-367). New Orleans, LA: Addison-Wesley.
Clark, H. H., & Brennan, S. E. (1991). Grounding in communication. In L. B. Resnick,
J. Levine, & S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition (pp.
127-149). Washington, DC: APA. Reprinted in R. M. Baecker (Ed.), Groupware and computer-supported
cooperative work: Assisting human-human collaboration (pp. 222-233). San Mateo, CA: Morgan Kaufman
Publishers, Inc.
Brennan, S. E. (1990). Conversation as direct manipulation: An iconoclastic view. In
B.K. Laurel (Ed.), The art of human-computer interface design (pp. 393-404). Reading,
MA: Addison-Wesley.
Brennan, S. E. (1988). The multimedia articulation of answers in a natural language
database query system. Proceedings, Second Conference on Applied Natural Language
Processing (pp. 1-8). Austin, TX: Association of Computational Linguistics.
Brennan, S. E., Friedman, M. W., & Pollard, C. J. (1987). A centering approach to
pronouns. Proceedings, 25th Annual Meeting of the ACL (pp. 155-162). Stanford, CA: Association
of Computational Linguistics.
Rhodes, G., Brennan, S., & Carey, S. (1987). Identification and ratings of caricatures: Implications
for mental representations of faces. Cognitive Psychology, 19, 473-497.
Brennan, S. E. (1985). The caricature generator. Leonardo, 18, 170-178. Republished
(2007) in Leonardo’s 40th anniversary volume, as the article that "holds the notable distinction
of being the most 'cited' article published in Leonardo.”
Current Research Support::
"Communication in the Global University: A Longitudinal Study of Language Adaptation at Multiple Timescales in Native- and Non-Native Speakers." NSF IBSS Program (Psychology, Linguistics, and Asian Studies). $999,817.