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The rhythm of joint action: Synchrony promotes cooperative ability

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Abstract

Although evidence has suggested that coordinated action enhances rapport and fosters cooperation, the possibility that it might also influence the ability to pursue joint goals has yet to be demonstrated. We show that rocking in synchrony enhanced individuals’ perceptual sensitivity to the motion of other entities and thereby increased their success in a subsequent joint-action task that required the ability to dynamically detect and respond appropriately to a partner’s movements. These findings support the view that in addition to fostering social cohesion, synchrony hones the abilities that allow individuals to functionally direct their cooperative motives.

Introduction

Soldiers march in step because it builds camaraderie. But could it also make them better marksmen? Better at surrounding enemies? Might ritualistic dances preceding hunts or combat serve not only to induce a sense of collective emotion, but also to improve precision in battle skills? Past research has shown that synchronized movement increases rapport, liking, and prosocial behavior (Bernieri, 1988, Miles et al., 2009, Valdesolo and DeSteno, submitted for publication, Wiltermuth and Heath, 2009). Yet, the possibility that coordinated action not only facilitates the motivation but the ability to pursue joint goals with others remains a tantalizing unexplored question. Beyond interesting us in the well-being of synchronized others, moving together in time might hone the perceptual and motor skills necessary for success in collaborative endeavors.

Past findings have lent support to the theory that moving together in time serves as a cooperation-enhancing mechanism, binding individuals together into adaptive units of reciprocal exchange (Haidt et al., 2008, McNeill, 1995, Wilson et al., 2008). In combination with research demonstrating the influence of non-conscious mimicry on liking, affiliation, altruism and interdependence, a growing body of evidence supports the role of coordinated action as a “social glue” (Ashton-James et al., 2007, Stel et al., 2007, van Baaren et al., 2004). Given this, it is tempting to conclude that the adaptive function of coordinated action lies solely in its ability to induce a collective spirit, as so doing would motivate the mutually beneficial exchanges and collaborations characteristic of reciprocal altruism (cf. Trivers, 1971) However, for certain types of tasks the motivation to cooperate might not be the sole, or primary, determinant of attaining a joint goal. While synchrony may induce a collective spirit, it might also sharpen the individual skills necessary to translate that spirit into success in joint action.

Synchrony has been found to facilitate incidental memory for the speech and appearance of interaction partners (Macrae, Duffy, Miles, & Lawrence, 2008), but perhaps the most obvious dimension of person-perception that it should facilitate is attention and responding toward the physical movement of other entities. As others have argued, sensitivity to the movements of another combined with the ability to generate complementary actions at the appropriate time constitute the essential components required for synchronizing action (Richardson et al., 2007, Sabenz et al., 2006, Schmidt and O’Brien, 1997). Given that the same capacities that underlie synchronization are theorized to also support joint action (e.g. cooperative juggling; Sabenz et al., 2006), we believe that engaging in the temporal organization of behavior via synchrony should subsequently enhance the ability to temporally organize movement in tasks requiring joint action. In other words, attending to and coordinating with the motion of another entity in one context might enhance a basic ability to accomplish a similar goal in a different context. Consider two hunters closing in on a prey. They must be able to gauge the speed and trajectory of the other’s movement in relation to the prey and adjust their own speed and trajectory appropriately. Accordingly, we hypothesized that synchronization with others would improve perceptual sensitivity to the motion of other entities and thus promote performance on a future separate joint-action task.

To examine this hypothesis, we developed a paradigm in which dyads of synchronized or asynchronized participants completed a computerized measure of perceptual sensitivity and then engaged in a joint-action task for which success was determined by the collective ability of the participants to dynamically detect and respond accordingly to the movements of the other participant. To the extent that synchrony allows one to practice attending to the movements of another and coordinate one’s movements accordingly, it should predict more general perceptual sensitivity that in turn should facilitate joint action. Measures of connectedness with and similarity to synchronized or asynchronized others were collected as well in order to rule out the possibility that any synchrony-induced facilitation of joint action was a result of feelings of rapport or closeness between members of the dyad, and thus a function of a motivation to collaborate with the other.

Section snippets

Methods

Ninety-two participants were run in pairs and assigned to one of two conditions: synchrony or asynchrony. All participants completed an individual measure of perceptual sensitivity as well as a dyadic measure of joint performance, which served as the primary dependent variables.

Participants were told that the experiment was interested in the effects of heart rate on perceptual ability and motor skills. They first completed a practice version of the computer-based perceptual sensitivity task so

Results

Eight dyads were removed due to problems with the synchronization manipulation or highly discrepant scores on the perceptual sensitivity task.

Discussion

Evidence of synchrony’s influence on perceptual and motor ability adds to the growing literature on the social function of coordinated movement in several important ways. The distinction between the effects on social outcomes of synchrony and other forms of coordinated action such as non-conscious mimicry thus far has remained unclear. Both have been found to facilitate social cohesion by increasing liking, affiliation, and rapport. Indeed, we also found an influence of synchrony on the related

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