Leadership and tempo perturbation affect coordination in medium-sized groups

Bahar Tunçgenç,Eoin Travers,Merle T Fairhurst

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-81504-0

Abstract

In marching bands, sports, dance and virtually all human group behaviour, we coordinate our actions with others. Coordinating actions in time and space can act as a social glue, facilitating bonding among people. However, much of our understanding about coordination dynamics is based on research into dyadic interactions. Little is known about the nature of the sensorimotor underpinnings and social bonding outcomes of coordination in medium-sized groups—the type of groups, in which most everyday teamwork takes place. In this study, we explored how the presence of a leader and an unexpected perturbation influence coordination and cohesion in a naturalistic setting. In groups of seven, participants were instructed to walk in time to an auditory pacing signal. We found that the presence of a reliable leader enhanced coordination with the target tempo, which was disrupted when the leader abruptly changed their movement tempo. This effect was not observed on coordination with the group members. Moreover, participants’ perceptions of being a follower and group cooperativeness increased in the presence of a leader. This study extends our knowledge about coordination beyond previous work on dyads. We discuss our results in light of sensorimotor coupling and social cohesion theories of coordination in groups.

Highlights

In marching bands, sports, dance and virtually all human group behaviour, we coordinate our actions with others
Closer inspection reveals that most groups did increase their tempo to match the experimenter, while a few did not do so at all. To examine these patterns statistically, we conducted 2 × 2 ANCOVA tests on the metric of coordination with the target tempo and the metric of coordination with the group members
Extant literature on the causes and consequences of interpersonal coordination has largely focused on dyadic interactions, which cannot address group dynamics that are essential to bonding, coordination and c ooperation[10]

Summary

Introduction

Sports, dance and virtually all human group behaviour, we coordinate our actions with others. The present study is the first to simultaneously test group dynamics both in terms of objective temporal coordination and its consequences on perceived cohesion in a medium-sized group of non-experts. Computational modelling and empirical data both support the notion that sensorimotor coupling can emerge spontaneously[30], as is evident from people’s spontaneous tendency to fall into synchrony with each other while walking[31], swaying bodies[32] or moving objects[33] This tendency to move synchronously with others seems to be so powerful that pairs of people coordinated their movements even in physically challenging contexts, for example, when their rocking chairs had different weights attached to them, making it harder to move in time to the same rhythm[34]

Methods

Results

Conclusion