I interpreted it differently. It isn't to give the appearance of slow thinking. It is to wait for the other person to be ready to accept the answer.
When talking to real humans, I've encountered people who don't do this, and I find it makes communication difficult and frustrating.
I'm not 100% sure why I need this pause, but I know I need it. Maybe I'm considering whether my question made sense or needs corrections/additions, so that I can't focus on the answer yet. Or maybe it takes time to switch the brain from "speaking mode" to "listening mode".
At any rate, when people do this, I have to ask them to repeat the first few words they said because I didn't catch them. And the reason I didn't catch them wasn't mumbling or background noise or anything. Well-formed sounds made it to my ear just fine, but my brain wasn't ready to accept them for a fraction of a second.
When talking to real humans, I've encountered people who don't do this, and I find it makes communication difficult and frustrating.
I'm not 100% sure why I need this pause, but I know I need it. Maybe I'm considering whether my question made sense or needs corrections/additions, so that I can't focus on the answer yet. Or maybe it takes time to switch the brain from "speaking mode" to "listening mode".
At any rate, when people do this, I have to ask them to repeat the first few words they said because I didn't catch them. And the reason I didn't catch them wasn't mumbling or background noise or anything. Well-formed sounds made it to my ear just fine, but my brain wasn't ready to accept them for a fraction of a second.