Elsevier

Cognition

Volume 178, September 2018, Pages 103-108
Cognition

Short Communication
Joint action coordination in expert-novice pairs: Can experts predict novices’ suboptimal timing?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.05.012Get rights and content
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Abstract

Previous research has established that skilled joint action partners use predictive models to achieve temporal coordination, for instance, when playing a music duet. But how do joint action partners with different skill levels achieve coordination? Can experts predict the suboptimal timing of novices? What kind of information allows them to predict novices’ timing? To address these questions, we asked skilled pianists to perform duets with piano novices. We varied whether, prior to performing duets, experts were familiar with novices’ performances of their individual parts of the duets and whether experts had access to the musical scores including the novices’ part of the duet. Familiarity with the score led to better coordination when the score implied a difficult passage. Familiarity with novices’ performances led to better joint action coordination for the remaining parts of the duet. Together, the results indicate that experts are surprisingly flexible in predicting novices’ suboptimal timing.

Keywords

Joint action
Temporal coordination
Sensorimotor synchronization
Prediction
Expertise
Music ensembles

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