The impact of delayed visual feedback on collaborative performance

When pairs work together on a physical task, seeing a common workspace benefits their performance and transforms their use of language. Previous results have demonstrated that visual information helps collaborative pairs to understand the current state of their task, ground their conversations, and communicate efficiently. However, collaborative technologies often impinge on the visual information needed to support successful collaboration. One example of this is the introduction of delayed visual feedback in a collaborative environment. We present results from two studies that detail the form of the function that describes the relationship between visual delay and collaborative task performance. The first study precisely demonstrates how a range of visual delays differentially impact performance and illustrates the collaborative strategies employed. The second study describes how parameters of the task, such as the dynamics of the visual environment, reduce the amount of delay that can be tolerated.