Interactional Synchrony Research Articles

Mapping asynchrony between gypsy moth egg-hatch and forest leaf-out: Putting the phenological window hypothesis in a spatial context

Spring phenology in temperate forest ecosystems is responding in diverse ways to global climate change, with unknown consequences for insect disturbances that affect forest productivity. Adaptive forest management that anticipates changes in insect disturbance regimes requires an understanding of the mechanistic links between climate and disturbance behavior. Phenological mismatches between insects and their hosts have the potential to modify patterns of defoliation that are a significant disturbance in temperate forests. Yet the frequency and extent of phenological mismatches have not been quantified over forest landscapes. Forest dwelling, spring-feeding defoliators must synchronize larval emergence annually with leaf-out phenology of host trees. Lack of synchrony can limit population expansion, unless dispersing larvae successfully locate phenologically compatible hosts. We quantified the potential for successful dispersal of an introduced defoliator in a forest landscape by mapping phenological asynchrony from 2000 to 2010. Maps compared MODIS derived leaf-out with gypsy moth egg-hatch from the BioSIM insect phenology model. Mean temporal differences between gypsy moth egg-hatch and leaf-out were sufficient (<−5 or >+10days) to severely limit 1st instar survival in 5 of 11years. Biologically meaningful phenological asynchrony extended over distances of 3.1–4.9km, well beyond typical gypsy moth dispersal thresholds (<1km), meaning that larvae in some parts of the landscape were unable to escape unfavorable phenology by dispersing. Significant spatial heterogeneity in phenological asynchrony clarifies its potential to affect gypsy moth population dynamics and patterns of defoliation disturbance, in contrast with previous field-based research conducted at smaller spatial scales. Our results suggest that delay of leaf-out in this ecosystem due to inadequate winter chilling may disrupt gypsy moth disturbances, as years where host forest phenology is significantly asynchronous over a majority of the landscape become more common. Our modeling approach is relevant and applicable to a wide range of ecological phenomena that require synchrony of phenological interactions across trophic levels. The results inform forest management by illustrating areas in host dominated landscapes that are most susceptible to defoliation in a given year, allowing for improved planning of insect suppression activities.

The Antecedents and Consequences of Human Behavioral Mimicry

Behavioral mimicry--the automatic imitation of gestures, postures, mannerisms, and other motor movements--is pervasive in human interactions. The current review focuses on two recent themes in the mimicry literature. First, an analysis of the moderators of mimicry uncovers the various motivational, social, emotional, and personality factors that lead to more or less mimicry of an interaction partner in a given situation. Second, a significant amount of recent research has identified important downstream consequences of mimicking or being mimicked by another person. These include not only increased prosociality between interactants, but also unexpected effects on the individual, such as cognitive processing style, attitudes, consumer preferences, self-regulatory ability, and academic performance. Behavioral mimicry is also placed in its broader context: a form of interpersonal coordination. It is compared to interactional synchrony and other social contagion effects, including verbal, goal, and emotional contagion and attitudinal convergence.

Measuring the Dynamics of Interactional Synchrony

Past research has revealed that natural social interactions contain interactional synchrony. The present study describes new methods for measuring interactional synchrony in natural interactions and evaluates whether the behavioral synchronization involved in social interactions is similar to dynamical synchronization found generically in nature. Two methodologies, a rater-coding method and a computational video image method, were used to provide time series representations of the movements of the co-actors as they enacted a series of jokes (i.e., knock–knock jokes). Cross-spectral and relative phase analyses of these time series revealed that speakers’ and listeners’ movements contained rhythms that were not only correlated in time but also exhibited phase synchronization. These results suggest that computational advances in video and time series analysis have greatly enhanced our ability to measure interactional synchrony in natural interactions. Moreover, the dynamical synchronization in these natural interactions is commensurate with that found in more stereotyped tasks, suggesting that similar organizational processes constrain bodily activity in natural social interactions and, hence, have implications for the understanding of joint action generally.

A qualitative analysis of power‐based entrainment and interactional synchrony in couples

AbstractInterpersonal synchrony is a communicative lubricant that is associated with harmonious communication among conversational participants and is believed to be evidence of like‐mindedness and interpersonal solidarity. In this secondary analysis of an existing data set of both power‐equal and power‐unequal couples working through a discussion task, the content and form of their conversations were qualitatively examined for evidence of synchrony and dissynchrony. It was found that power‐equal couples tended toward synchronous communication and their conversations were represented by strategies that appeared either collaborative or competitive but generally respectful and problem oriented. The power‐unequal couples used one‐sided marginalization or withdrawal strategies that were characterized largely by dissynchrony. The theoretical implications for these findings are discussed.

Interactive synchrony: A biobehavioral model of mutual influences in the formation of affiliative bonds in healthy and pathological development

Interactive synchrony: A biobehavioral model of mutual influences in the formation of affiliative bonds in healthy and pathological development

Interpersonal Synchrony: A Survey of Evaluation Methods across Disciplines

Synchrony refers to individuals' temporal coordination during social interactions. The analysis of this phenomenon is complex, requiring the perception and integration of multimodal communicative signals. The evaluation of synchrony has received multidisciplinary attention because of its role in early development, language learning, and social connection. Originally studied by developmental psychologists, synchrony has now captured the interest of researchers in such fields as social signal processing, robotics, and machine learning. This paper emphasizes the current questions asked by synchrony evaluation and the state-of-the-art related methods. First, we present definitions and functions of synchrony in youth and adulthood. Next, we review the noncomputational and computational approaches of annotating, evaluating, and modeling interactional synchrony. Finally, the current limitations and future research directions in the fields of developmental robotics, social robotics, and clinical studies are discussed.

Do Parents Recognize Autistic Deviant Behavior Long before Diagnosis? Taking into Account Interaction Using Computational Methods

BackgroundTo assess whether taking into account interaction synchrony would help to better differentiate autism (AD) from intellectual disability (ID) and typical development (TD) in family home movies of infants aged less than 18 months, we used computational methods.Methodology and Principal FindingsFirst, we analyzed interactive sequences extracted from home movies of children with AD (N = 15), ID (N = 12), or TD (N = 15) through the Infant and Caregiver Behavior Scale (ICBS). Second, discrete behaviors between baby (BB) and Care Giver (CG) co-occurring in less than 3 seconds were selected as single interactive patterns (or dyadic events) for analysis of the two directions of interaction (CG→BB and BB→CG) by group and semester. To do so, we used a Markov assumption, a Generalized Linear Mixed Model, and non negative matrix factorization. Compared to TD children, BBs with AD exhibit a growing deviant development of interactive patterns whereas those with ID rather show an initial delay of development. Parents of AD and ID do not differ very much from parents of TD when responding to their child. However, when initiating interaction, parents use more touching and regulation up behaviors as early as the first semester.ConclusionWhen studying interactive patterns, deviant autistic behaviors appear before 18 months. Parents seem to feel the lack of interactive initiative and responsiveness of their babies and try to increasingly supply soliciting behaviors. Thus we stress that credence should be given to parents' intuition as they recognize, long before diagnosis, the pathological process through the interactive pattern with their child.

Mother and infant coordinate heart rhythms through episodes of interaction synchrony

Animal studies demonstrated the powerful impact of maternal-infant social contact on the infant's physiological systems, yet the online effects of social interactions on the human infant's physiology remain poorly understood. Mothers and their 3-month old infants were observed during face-to-face interactions while cardiac output was collected from mother and child. Micro-analysis of the partners’ behavior marked episodes of gaze, affect, and vocal synchrony. Time-series analysis showed that mother and infant coordinate heart rhythms within lags of less than 1 s. Bootstrapping analysis indicated that the concordance between maternal and infant biological rhythms increased significantly during episodes of affect and vocal synchrony compared to non-synchronous moments. Humans, like other mammals, can impact the physiological processes of the attachment partner through the coordination of visuo-affective social signals.

Mother-Child and Father-Child Interactional Synchrony in Dyadic and Triadic Interactions

Patterns of interactional synchrony were compared in mother-child and father-child dyads during dyadic and triadic interactions. Forty-two dual-earner families from the French province of Quebec, Canada, participated in the study with their 32 months-old child. Parent–child interactions were coded using a taxonomy including the social partners’ physical proximity, visual and body orientation, and dyadic involvement. Analyses show similar patterns of interactional synchrony in mother-child and father-child dyads in the dyadic context while father-child dyads presented less interactional synchrony than mother-child dyads when interacting in triad. Discussion focuses on the impact of the context and on the factors that could explain the changes in father-child patterns of interaction from one context to another.

Inter-Brain Synchronization during Social Interaction

During social interaction, both participants are continuously active, each modifying their own actions in response to the continuously changing actions of the partner. This continuous mutual adaptation results in interactional synchrony to which both members contribute. Freely exchanging the role of imitator and model is a well-framed example of interactional synchrony resulting from a mutual behavioral negotiation. How the participants' brain activity underlies this process is currently a question that hyperscanning recordings allow us to explore. In particular, it remains largely unknown to what extent oscillatory synchronization could emerge between two brains during social interaction. To explore this issue, 18 participants paired as 9 dyads were recorded with dual-video and dual-EEG setups while they were engaged in spontaneous imitation of hand movements. We measured interactional synchrony and the turn-taking between model and imitator. We discovered by the use of nonlinear techniques that states of interactional synchrony correlate with the emergence of an interbrain synchronizing network in the alpha-mu band between the right centroparietal regions. These regions have been suggested to play a pivotal role in social interaction. Here, they acted symmetrically as key functional hubs in the interindividual brainweb. Additionally, neural synchronization became asymmetrical in the higher frequency bands possibly reflecting a top-down modulation of the roles of model and imitator in the ongoing interaction.

Tonal synchrony in mother–infant interaction based on harmonic and pentatonic series

This study reports the occurrence of ‘tonal synchrony’ as a new dimension of early mother–infant interaction synchrony. The findings are based on a tonal and temporal analysis of vocal interactions between 15 mothers and their 3-month-old infants during 5 min of free-play in a laboratory setting. In total, 558 vocal exchanges were identified and analysed, of which 84% reflected harmonic or pentatonic series. Another 10% of the exchanges contained absolute and/or relative pitch and/or interval imitations. The total durations of dyads being in tonal synchrony were normally distributed ( M = 3.71, SD = 2.44). Vocalisations based on harmonic series appeared organised around the major triad, containing significantly more simple frequency ratios (octave, fifth and third) than complex ones (non-major triad tones). Tonal synchrony and its characteristics are discussed in relation to infant-directed speech, communicative musicality, pre-reflective communication and its impact on the quality of early mother–infant interaction and child's development.

Movement synchrony and perceived entitativity

Movement synchrony has been theoretically linked to the emergence of a social unit. To empirically investigate whether similar movement rhythms are an antecedent of perceived entitativity, movement rhythms were experimentally manipulated in four studies. Using this novel approach, stick figures waving in synchrony were found to be rated higher on entitativity than stick figures waving in different rhythms (Study 1), and this effect was extended to interactional synchrony, where different movements are performed in the same rhythm (Study 2). Objective differences in movement rhythms are linearly related to ratings of perceived entitativity, and this relationship is partially mediated by the subjectively perceived similarity of movement rhythms (Study 3). These results also held for entitativity judgments for videotaped individuals waving rhythmically (Study 4). These results support the hypothesis that movement rhythms are an important source of information which observers use to infer the extent to which individuals are a social unit.

Visual imaginative synchrony

AbstractThis research examines the concordance process of the visual modality of imaginative activity experienced by interactional partners, the Visual Imaginative Synchrony (VIS). It is proposed that VIS is an interactional synchrony phenomenon which involves a natural form of interpersonal adjustment, involving a harmonizing of imaginative activity which is identifiable by an external observer. Here VIS has been applied in the hypnotic as well as in the waking state. Stimulus words were obtained from a standardized process, and a VIS test applying a combination of drawing and description was developed. This was completed by the participants of the dyads after each of 5 stimulus words. We defined VIS values by the evaluation of the dyads' VIS tests by independent raters. Here we present the results from standardized hypnosis and waking contexts, as well as the relationship of VIS with psychological criteria measured with other tests: Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ), Archaic Involvement Measure (AIM), Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), Dyadic Interaction Harmony Questionnaire (DIH), Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). Based on the results we identify a new interactional synchronization phenomenon which can be reliably measured in both waking and hypnotic states. Copyright © 2009 British Society of Experimental &amp; Clinical Hypnosis. Published by John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Keepon

Keepon is a small creature-like robot designed for simple, natural, nonverbal interaction with children. The minimal design of Keepon’s appearance and behavior is meant to intuitively and comfortably convey the robot’s expressions of attention and emotion. For the past few years, we have been observing interactions between Keepon and children at various levels of physical, mental, and social development. With typically developing children, we have observed varying styles of play that suggest a progression in ontological understanding of the robot. With children suffering from developmental disorders such as autism, we have observed interactive behaviors that suggest Keepon’s design is effective in eliciting a motivation to share mental states. Finally, in developing technology for interpersonal coordination and interactional synchrony, we have observed an important role of rhythm in establishing engagement between people and robots. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of work done with Keepon to date.

Cortisol reactivity, maternal sensitivity, and learning in 3-month-old infants

This study investigated the effects of adrenocortical functioning on infant learning during an emotionally challenging event (brief separation from mother). We also explored possible relationships between maternal sensitivity and both infant and maternal cortisol reactivity during the learning/maternal separation episode. Sixty-three 3-month-olds and their mothers were videotaped for a 10 min normal interaction period, and mother–infant behavioral synchrony was measured using Isabella and Belsky's [Isabella, R. A., & Belsky, J. (1991). Interactional synchrony and the origins of infant-mother attachment: A replication study. Child Development, 62, 373–384] coding scheme. The percentage of synchronous behaviors served as a measure of maternal sensitivity. Learning and short-term memory involved relating the infant's mother's voice with a moving colored block in a preferential looking paradigm. Infants whose cortisol increased during the session showed no learning or memory, infants whose cortisol declined appeared to learn and remember the association, while infants whose cortisol did not change evidenced learning, but not memory for the voice/object correspondence. Sensitivity and cortisol reactivity were correlated for mothers, but not for infants. Infant and maternal cortisol values for the first sampling period were highly correlated, but their cortisol reactivity values were uncorrelated, supporting the notion that infants and mothers have coordinated adrenocortical functioning systems when physically together, but become uncoordinated during a separation/learning event.

Detecting digital chameleons

Conversations are characterized by an interactional synchrony between verbal and nonverbal behaviors [Kendon, A. (1970). Movement coordination in social interaction: some examples described. Acta Psychologica, 32(2), 101-125]. A subset of these contingent conversational behaviors is direct mimicry. During face to face interaction, people who mimic the verbal [Giles, H., Coupland, J., & Coupland, N. (1991). Accommodation theory: Communication, context, and consequence. In Giles, H., Coupland, J., & Coupland, N. Contexts of accommodation. Developments in applied sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] and nonverbal behaviors [Chartrand, T. L., & Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: the perception-behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 893-910] gain social advantage. Most research examining mimicry behavior in interaction examines 'implicit mimicry' in which the mimicked individual is unaware of the behavior of the mimicker. In this paper, we examined how effective people were at explicitly detecting mimicking computer agents and the consequences of mimic detection in terms of social influence and interactional synchrony. In Experiment 1, participant pairs engaged in a ''one-degree of freedom'' Turing Test. When the computer agent mimicked them, users were significantly worse than chance at identifying the other human. In Experiment 2, participants were more likely to detect mimicry in an agent that mirror-mimicked their head movements (three degrees of freedom) than agents that either congruently mimicked their behaviors or mimicked those movements on another rotational axis. We discuss implications for theories of interactivity.

Somatic Configuration: A Model for an Integrated Approach to the Understanding of Disease

A diachronic and synchronic interpretation of man and his relationship with the environment, with the contribution of the neurosciences and genetics, have made it possible to gain a better understanding of how organic, psychological, and environmental factors interact and contribute to the genesis of disease, whether mental or physical. The concepts of somatic configuration and interactional synchrony on which our model is based offer a unified approach to the relationship between man and his environment in which motor and relational capacities are aspects of a single process—one that aims to establish the best equilibrium with the environment in every moment depending on the individual's condition.

Interactional Synchrony in Conversations about Emotional Episodes: A Measurement by “the Between-Participants Pseudosynchrony Experimental Paradigm”

Interactional synchrony refers to the coordination of movements between individuals in both timing and form during interpersonal communication. Most previous studies in Western culture used a coding methodology and concluded that interactional synchrony occurred for positive episodes but not for negative episodes (e.g., Charny, E. J. (1966). Psychosomatic Medicine, 28, 305–315). In this study, we examined interactional synchrony using a between-participants pseudosynchrony experimental paradigm (Bernieri, F. J., & Rosenthal, R. (1991). In R. S. Feldman & B. Rime (Eds.), Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 401–432). New York: Cambridge University Press). Sixty Japanese female university students viewed interaction clips and judged the level of perceived synchrony. The results show that interactional synchrony was perceived in negative episodes as well as in positive episodes. The degree of perceived synchrony was higher in positive episodes than in negative episodes.

Interaction synchrony and neural circuits contribute to shared intentionality

In the dyadic and triadic sharing of emotions, intentions, and behaviors in families, interactive synchrony is important to the early life experiences that contribute to the development of cultural cognition. This synchrony likely depends on neurobiological circuits, currently under study with brain imaging, that involve attention, stress response, and memory.

The development of siblings of children with autism at 4 and 14 months: social engagement, communication, and cognition

To compare siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) and siblings of children with typical development (SIBS-TD) at 4 and 14 months of age. At 4 months, mother-infant interactional synchrony during free play, infant gaze and affect during the still-face paradigm, and infant responsiveness to a name-calling paradigm were examined (n = 21 in each group). At 14 months, verbal and nonverbal communication skills were examined as well as cognition (30 SIBS-A and 31 SIBS-TD). Most SIBS-A were functioning as well as the SIBS-TD at 4 and 14 months of age. However, some differences in early social engagement and later communicative and cognitive skills emerged. Synchrony was weaker in the SIBS-A dyads, but only for infant-led interactions. Infant SIBS-A revealed more neutral affect during the still-face procedure and were less upset by it than was true for the SIBS-TD. A surprising result was that significantly more SIBS-A responded to their name being called by their mothers compared to SIBS-TD. At 14 months, SIBS-A made fewer nonverbal requesting gestures and achieved lower language scores on the Bayley Scale. Six SIBS-A revealed a language delay of 5 months and were responsible for some of the significant differences between SIBS-A and SIBS-TD. Furthermore, infant SIBS-A who showed more neutral affect to the still face and were less able to respond to their name being called by their mothers initiated fewer nonverbal joint attention and requesting behaviors at 14 months, respectively. Focused on the genetic liability for the broad phenotype of autism as well as the possible influence of having a sibling with autism.