Josephine B. Fisher (A01), TRR speaker Professor Katharina Rohlfing, and Dr. Angela Grimminger (A02), together with Dr. Ed Donellan, Dr. Yan Gu, and Professor Gabriella Vigliocco from University College London (UCL), have published the research article "Explain with, rather than explain to: How explainees shape their own learning".
The research examines the role of the person receiving an explanation and its influence on their own learning success. Explanatory dialogues between adults about unknown objects, both present and absent, were analyzed. For example, in the study, one person explains to another what the fruit rambutan is, and the other person asks questions about it. The research team then analyzed the different types of questions in relation to the unknown objects.
"The people to whom something is being explained guide the explanation process by asking specific questions addressing the name or facts about the object.", says linguist Josephine B. Fisher, summarizing the results. "The object's function was asked more often when the object was present. Questions about the label also helped the study participants to identify the object more frequently".
The data was collected by colleagues at UCL, while the analysis was carried out at TRR 318. The results contribute to the development of explainable AI systems and extend experimental research on explanatory processes.
