THE DCIEM MAP TASK CORPUS - SPONTANEOUS DIALOGUE UNDER SLEEP-DEPRIVATION AND DRUG-TREATMENT

This paper describes a resource designed for the general study of spon taneous speech under the stress of sleep deprivation. It is a corpus o f 216 unscripted task-oriented dialogues produced by normal adults in the course of a major sleep deprivation study. The study itself examin ed continuous task performance through baseline, sleepless and recover y periods by groups treated with placebo or one of two drugs (Modafini l, d-amphetamine) reputed to counter the effects of sleep deprivation. The dialogues were all produced while carrying out the route communic ation task used in the HCRC Map Task Corpus. Pairs of talkers collabor ated to reproduce on one partner's schematic map a route preprinted on the other's. Controlled differences between the maps and use of label led imaginary locations limit genre, vocabulary and effects of real-wo rld knowledge, The designs for the construction of maps and the alloca tion of subjects to maps make the corpus a controlled elicitation expe riment. Each talker participated in 12 dialogues over the course of th e study, Preliminary examinations of dialogue length and task performa nce measures indicate effects of drug treatment, sleep deprivation and number of conversational partners, The corpus is available to researc hers interested in all levels of speech and dialogue analysis, in both normal and stressed conditions.