This study investigates how small talk unfolds between two university students in a cafeteria, with a focus on the interactional role of smartphones. The data from 2016 reveal that the students spend most of their time in the cafeteria engaging with their smartphones, keeping them within reach and visible even when not actively using them. The analysis shows that smartphone use is as frequent as drinking beverages, indicating its seamless integration into their daily routines. It further highlights that scrolling gestures often preceded the closing of conversations. Despite frequent smartphone engagement, the students continue their conversations without interruption, demonstrating their ability to balance social interaction with device use. While such conversational practices may appear to lack traditional interactional rituals, they represent an adaptive technique employed by contemporary university students to navigate co-presence and multitasking in social settings.

This study examined the correlations between the text structure and the text quality, and the working memory capacity and the text quality in Japanese text. Participants (𝑁= 52) were asked to complete the Reading Span Test (a measure of the working memory capacity) and the writing task. Participants’ texts were classified based on the text labels (e.g., the sentence was classified as M-label if the sentence explained the topic of the sentence) and the sentence qualities (e.g., how high the overall text quality was). In addition, overall text structure was classified by the pattern of the text labels (e.g., if there were multiple M-labels, then the text was classified into Flexible). Results revealed that, as predicted by the previous study reported in English participants, the working memory capacity correlated with the overall text quality. However, we could not find the relationships between text structures and the working memory capacity and the overall text quality. Though there were limitations, our result indicated a positive correlation between text qualities and working memory capacity, even in Japanese samples.

In ensemble performances, players can understand how their co-players perform by practicing with them. This study aimed to clarify whether the relationships built between players during practice time correspond to their relationships between players that appear in their way they match the actual performances and in the sounds of the performances. We conducted ensemble experiments involving ten violinists and four cellists, and evaluation experiments involving two violin instructors and three cello instructors. In the ensemble experiments, we analyzed the practice time and eight actual performances. We examined the role in practice progress, relationship adjustment based on attribution of causes and indication of evaluation, role in the actual performances, and impressions given by performance sounds. The findings show that players’ relationships were generally consistent with the relationship between players in ensembles, such as the role in the actual performances and the impressions given by the performance sounds. These results indicate that the factors that influence the performance of ensembles include democratic leadership by the facilitator during practice time, communication during the actual performances based on the interpretations shared during practice, and the role of the practice facilitator in coordinating the performance.

I analyzed how the “move to other tables” characteristic in the meeting format of the “World Café” affects the dialogue process. By analyzing actual World Café dialogue, I found that “move to other tables” contributes toward diversifying speech and increasing the density of the discourse. This is achieved through the rise of “cross-pollination,” where participants bring shared experiences to the next table, leading to a nurturing of “collective intelligence” through diversity and tolerance in the conversational space.

Although common types of injuries in infancy and childhood, such as suffocation, burns, and falls, are well-documented, preventing their recurrence remains a challenge. This study investigated adults’ perceptions of the sizes of everyday objects as a means of preventing such injuries at home. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 145 Japanese participants aged 18 to 80 years, asking them to estimate the sizes of six objects associated with these injuries, rate their confidence in their estimates, and provide analogies for objects of equivalent sizes. The results revealed significant differences between participants’ size estimates and the actual dimensions of the objects. No significant differences were observed across age, gender, living with children, or occupation. Confidence in size estimation varied by object and tended to decrease as the gap between actual and estimated sizes widened. Multiple correspondence analysis indicated a relationship between confidence and estimation accuracy, but no relationship with the presence of children aged 0–2 years in the household. In addition, analogy analysis showed that analogies to categories other than objects were particularly prominent. These findings suggest that improving adults’ ability to accurately access object sizes and encouraging analogies with similar-sized items may enhance awareness of potential hazards and support comprehensive injury prevention at home.