Nonverbal Attentive Behavior and Listening Comprehension

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role nonverbal attending behaviors play in listening skills and Comprehension. Nonverbal attending behaviors of 112 subjects were videotaped while they watched a humorous videotape. Measures of listeners' comprehension were collected on a 14-item multiple-choice questionnaire. One-half of the subjects was given the opportunity to take notes. The data were analyzed by t-tests and a Pearson correlation. Results indicated that those who exhibited more attending behaviors scored higher on the comprehension test than those who did not. The opportunity to take notes did not enhance comprehension scores.