Emberson also said that in such a situation people try to make sense of snippets of conversation and predict what speakers will say next. "When you hear half of a conversation, you get less information and you can't predict as well," she said. "It requires more attention."

艾伯森還稱(chēng)，在這種情況下，人們會(huì)試圖搞明白只言片語(yǔ)背后的完整含義，并預(yù)測(cè)說(shuō)話者接下來(lái)要說(shuō)什么。“當(dāng)你聽(tīng)到一半對(duì)話，信息不充分，讓人無(wú)法預(yù)測(cè)，”她說(shuō)。“這就需要你投入更多的注意力。”

The findings by Emberson and her co-author Michael Goldstein are based on research involving 41 college students who did concentration exercises, like tracking moving dots, while hearing one or both parties during a cellphone conversation. The students made more errors when they heard one speaker's side of the conversation than when they overheard the entire dialogue.

這項(xiàng)研究結(jié)果是艾伯森和米歇爾-戈德斯坦在調(diào)查了41位大學(xué)生后得出的。大學(xué)生們被要求做注意力集中測(cè)試，比如邊聽(tīng)一方（或者是兩方）打電話邊追蹤移動(dòng)點(diǎn)，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)，只聽(tīng)到一方談話內(nèi)容的學(xué)生要比聽(tīng)到完整對(duì)話的學(xué)生的出錯(cuò)率高。