<p>Switch-tracking seems very similar to the <strong>"Dialogue Alignment"</strong> in Psycholinguistics and some other fields of Cognitive Science. <em>For a successful conversation interlocutors need to develop similar representations</em>. Switch-tracking, however seems an abstract conceptual domain problem, but dialogue alignment mostly investigates issues in a more concrete linguistic domain.</p>

<p>Here are some related publications:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li><p>Pickering, M. J., &amp; Garrod, S. (2006). Alignment as the basis for
  successful communication. Research on Language and Computation,
  4(2-3), 203-228.</p></li>
  <li><p>Garrod, S., &amp; Pickering, M. J. (2007). Alignment in dialogue. The
  Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics, 443-451.</p></li>
  <li><p>Brennan, S. E., Galati, A., &amp; Kuhlen, A. K. (2010). Two minds, one
  dialog: Coordinating speaking and understanding. Psychology of
  Learning and Motivation, 53, 301-344.</p></li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

<p>And this one investigates bilingual alignments:</p>

<blockquote>
  <ul>
  <li>Purmohammad, M. (2015). Linguistic alignment in L1–L2 dialogue.
  Language and Dialogue, 5(2), 312-333.</li>
  </ul>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-08T08:17:39.423Z
2016-08-08T08:17:39.423Z
Morty
<p>In <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/09/22/434597124/trying-to-change-or-changing-the-subject-how-feedback-gets-derailed" rel="nofollow">one recent episode of Hidden Brain podcast</a>, they talk about a pattern in conversation called "Switchtracking". It references to the the "Thanks for the Feedback" book by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen.</p>

<p>In general it happens when you get a feedback unrelated to the topic you are concerned in a conversation. Here is how it is defined at respective NPR post:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Switchtracking, as defined by author Sheila Heen, is when "someone
  gives you feedback, and your reaction to that feedback changes the
  subject."</p>
</blockquote>

<p>I'm wondering if there is any academic background supporting this phenomenon (There is neither references section in the book nor podcast page). Is it called something else in academia? I could not find any references to some academic publications in the fields of CogSci, management, or behavioral economics.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-11T05:37:34.820Z
@FlaviadePaivaBritesMartins Thank you, *alignment* from cognitive linguistics seems somehow fit here, since they do not separate conceptual domain from language domain in cogling.
Morty
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-08-11T05:38:18.570Z
There is also a book "Thanks for the Feedback" that seems to be the source of switch-tracking idea (by the same authors).
Morty
<social-psychology><bias>
Academic Background for Switchtracking Phenomenon
Morty
# Academic Background for Switchtracking Phenomenon

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-10-25)

In [one recent episode of Hidden Brain podcast](http://www.npr.org/2015/09/22/434597124/trying-to-change-or-changing-the-subject-how-feedback-gets-derailed), they talk about a pattern in conversation called "Switchtracking". It references to the the "Thanks for the Feedback" book by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen.

In general it happens when you get a feedback unrelated to the topic you are concerned in a conversation. Here is how it is defined at respective NPR post:

> Switchtracking, as defined by author Sheila Heen, is when "someone
> gives you feedback, and your reaction to that feedback changes the
> subject."

I'm wondering if there is any academic background supporting this phenomenon (There is neither references section in the book nor podcast page). Is it called something else in academia? I could not find any references to some academic publications in the fields of CogSci, management, or behavioral economics.

**Tags:** social-psychology, bias

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: @FlaviadePaivaBritesMartins Thank you, *alignment* from cognitive linguistics seems somehow fit here, since they do not separate conceptual domain from language domain in cogling.  
> **username_0**: There is also a book "Thanks for the Feedback" that seems to be the source of switch-tracking idea (by the same authors).  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_0 on 2016-08-08. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Switch-tracking seems very similar to the **"Dialogue Alignment"** in Psycholinguistics and some other fields of Cognitive Science. *For a successful conversation interlocutors need to develop similar representations*. Switch-tracking, however seems an abstract conceptual domain problem, but dialogue alignment mostly investigates issues in a more concrete linguistic domain.

Here are some related publications:

> * Pickering, M. J., & Garrod, S. (2006). Alignment as the basis for
>   successful communication. Research on Language and Computation,
>   4(2-3), 203-228.
> * Garrod, S., & Pickering, M. J. (2007). Alignment in dialogue. The
>   Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics, 443-451.
> * Brennan, S. E., Galati, A., & Kuhlen, A. K. (2010). Two minds, one
>   dialog: Coordinating speaking and understanding. Psychology of
>   Learning and Motivation, 53, 301-344.

And this one investigates bilingual alignments:

> * Purmohammad, M. (2015). Linguistic alignment in L1–L2 dialogue.
>   Language and Dialogue, 5(2), 312-333.


---

