Table 3.

Communication variables (used for communication coding) and their descriptions

Communication variable	Description
Frequency of words	The number of words participants speak per minute
Frequency of question asking	The number of task related questions participants ask per minute
Frequency of information sharing-response	How often participants respond to partners
Frequency of information sharing-spontaneous	How often participants spontaneously provide information
Frequency of social reinforcement-positive	How often participants give positive social feedback (e.g., “Good job”).
Frequency of social reinforcement-negative	How often participants give negative social feedback (e.g., “That was stupid”).
Frequency of directives	How often participants give partners instructions
Frequency of socially oriented vocalizations	How often participants make a socially oriented utterance (e.g., “What’s your name?”)
Frequency of speaker changes	How often participants and their partners take turns talking