Interaction in Pathological Contexts: Methodology and Case Studies of Alzheimer Patients and Multihandicapped Persons

International audienceIn this paper we investigate the behavioural (both vocal and gestural) patterns produced by Alzheimer patients and by multihandicapped persons with peers and therapists in a communicative interaction situation. Communicative items are automatically analysed and sorted into patterns. Our results show that, despite of their reported « linguistic » disabilities, the patients we have analysed do not only play their role in the interaction, but also can lead the interaction and show initiative behaviour. Despite of their vulnerable behaviour, the patients (particularly in the case of Alzheimer) both show a great ability to integrate new information when they are involved in a dialog situation