Title
Interactional synchrony: signals, mechanisms and benefits
Author
Merle Fairhurst
Institute for Psychology, Bundeswehr University Munich
Author
Annett Schirmer
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Abstract
Many group-living animals, humans included, occasionally synchronize their behavior with that of conspecifics. Social psychology and neuroscience have attempted to explain this phenomenon. Here we sought to integrate results around three themes: the stimuli, the mechanisms and the benefits of interactional synchrony. As regards stimuli, we asked what characteristics, apart from temporal regularity, prompt synchronization and found that stimulus modality and complexity are important. The high temporal resolution of the auditory system and the relevance of socio-emotional information endow auditory, multimodal, emotional and somewhat variable and adaptive sequences with particular synchronizing power. Looking at the mechanisms revealed that traditional perspectives emphasizing beat-based representations of others’ signals conflict with more recent work investigating the perception of temporal regularity. Timing processes supported by striato-cortical loops represent any kind of repetitive interval sequence fairly automatically. Additionally, socio-emotional processes supported by posterior superior temporal cortex help endow such sequences with value motivating the extent of synchronizing. Synchronizing benefits arise from an increased predictability of incoming signals and include many positive outcomes ranging from basic information processing at the individual level to the bonding of dyads and larger groups.
Keywords
interactional rhythmentrainmenttimingsocial bonding
Object type
Language
English [eng]
Persistent identifier
https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1227684
Appeared in
Title
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Volume
16
Issue
1-2
ISSN
1749-5016
Issued
2020
From page
5
To page
18
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date issued
2020
Access rights
Rights statement
© The Author(s) 2020
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