Performance of Language-Coordinated Collective Systems: A Study of Wine Recognition and Description

Abstract

Most of our perceptions of and engagements with the world are shaped by our immersion in social interactions, cultural traditions, tools and linguistic categories. In this study we experimentally investigate the impact of two types of language-based coordination on the recognition and description of complex sensory stimuli: that of red wine. Participants were asked to taste, remember and successively recognize samples of wines within a larger set in a two-by-two experimental design: (1) either individually or in pairs, and (2) with or without the support of a sommelier card—a cultural linguistic tool designed for wine description. Both effectiveness of recognition and the kinds of errors in the four conditions were analyzed. While our experimental manipulations did not impact recognition accuracy, bias-variance decomposition of error revealed non-trivial differences in how participants solved the task. Pairs generally displayed reduced bias and increased variance compared to individuals, however the variance dropped significantly when they used the sommelier card. The effect of sommelier card reducing the variance was observed only in pairs, individuals did not seem to benefit from the cultural linguistic tool. Analysis of descriptions generated with the aid of sommelier cards shows that pairs were more coherent and discriminative than individuals. The findings are discussed in terms of global properties and dynamics of collective systems when constrained by different types of cultural practices.

Cultural Artifacts Transform Embodied Practice: How a Sommelier Card Shapes the Behavior of Dyads Engaged in Wine Tasting

“…In terms of task performance, Zubek et al (2016) observed that while recognition as such was mostly unaffected, biasvariance decomposition (Gigerenzer and Brighton, 2009) revealed differences between the groups. In pairs that used the sommelier card, the variance component of the error was decreased compared to that in the other groups.…”

“…In this work, we analyze a subset of results from the previous study of Zubek et al (2016), which concerned the impact of language on performance in a perceptual learning and recognition task. In that study, language influence consisted of the online linguistic interaction of the participants as well as their interaction with a sommelier card, which is a culturally designed professional linguistic artifact for wine description and recognition.…”

“…The card was a slightly simplified Polish version of the Associazione Italiana Sommelier card, which, for several years, has been used among the Polish sommeliers. This means that the key dimensions used in the card had the Polish terms agreed upon by the Polish sommeliers and used in professional writing (for details, see Zubek et al, 2016). The task of the participants was first to learn the taste (and smell) of three wine samples and then to recognize these wines among a larger set of wines.…”

“…Our study is a follow-up analysis of an earlier study by Zubek et al (2016), which aimed to measure the collective gain in the recognition of difficult sensory stimuli. The collective gain was expected to result from interaction with another participant and/or with an artifact designed specifically for the description of the stimuli.…”

“…A standard experimental methodology requires defining variables and measures before performing any experimentation to enable objective judgment of the experimental outcomes. In the original study by Zubek et al (2016), the interpretation of the two factors -the presence of an interaction partner and the presence of a sommelier cardbecame difficult because it was not known how the card altered the way in which people worked together. The interactions of the dyads who used the sommelier card could have had an internally different structure and meaning than the interactions of the dyads without the card, raising a question if a simple linear effect of a "presence of interaction" factor captured this change accurately.…”