Self-Organized Complementary Coordination: Dynamics of an Interpersonal Collision-Avoidance Task

Michael J Richardson,Rachel W Kallen,R C Schmidt,Steven J Harrison,Ryan May

doi:10.1051/bioconf/20110100075

Michael J Richardson, Rachel W Kallen + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1051/bioconf/20110100075

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Abstract

The current study investigated the movement dynamics of a complementary collision-avoidance task. Participant pairs performed a repetitive targeting task in which they moved computer stimuli back and forth between sets of target locations without colliding into each other. Pairs converged onto a stable relative phase relationship of around 35°, with one participant spontaneously adopting the role of "phase leader" and the other participant adopting the role of "phase follower". In addition, those participants who adopted the role of phase leader tended to exhibit more of a straight-line trajectory between targets, whereas participants who adopted the role of phase follower tended to exhibit a more elliptical trajectory. This role differentiation was essential to task success and reflected the spontaneous relaxation and recruitment of available movement degrees-of-freedom defined across the joint-action system.

Highlights

Many of our actions are performed together with other individuals and can be characterized as interpersonal or joint actions
There is a growing body of research investigating the neural and cognitive mechanisms that play a role in joint action, identifying the dynamical processes by which individuals are mutually responsive to one another in time and space is crucial to understanding such behavior
Past research has investigated the dynamics of the joint coordination for both intended and spontaneous between-person interactions, it has only investigated the presence of these processes in simple rhythmic coordination tasks, which included movements that are coordinated incidentally in 1-to-1 manner [see 1 for a review]

Summary

Introduction

Many of our actions are performed together with other individuals and can be characterized as interpersonal or joint actions. There is a growing body of research investigating the neural and cognitive mechanisms that play a role in joint action, identifying the dynamical processes by which individuals are mutually responsive to one another in time and space is crucial to understanding such behavior. Past research has investigated the dynamics of the joint coordination for both intended and spontaneous between-person interactions, it has only investigated the presence of these processes in simple rhythmic coordination tasks, which included movements that are coordinated incidentally in 1-to-1 manner [see 1 for a review]. The current study investigated the dynamics of a more complex joint action in which individuals had to perform goaldirected movements without colliding into each other. We expected that complementary temporal and spatial patterns of the movement trajectories would reveal how co-actors play different dynamical roles in the performance of such joint-action tasks

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