Fig. 2. Distribution of gaps and overlaps across speaker transitions.

Negative intervals are classified as “overlaps,” indicating the presence of simultaneous speech on the part of two conversation partners. Positive values are “gaps,” indicating a stretch of silence between turns. The results indicated that the median between-speaker turn interval was +80 ms and was distributed approximately normally. These results are similar to those previously observed in conversations across many cultures and communication modalities (33). Short gaps are consistently the most common type of turn transition in naturally occurring conversation.