Toward a Theoretical Model of Behavioural Synchrony

人际同步——与另一个人或多个人在时间和空间上移动——应该需要努力实现和维持，然而同步在许多互动中经常自发地出现。同步性的盛行表明，它必须有足够的回报来抵消其成本——事实上，研究证明了这一点，记录了同步性的各种积极结果（例如，更融洽的关系和对附属关系的渴望，更安全的母婴依恋，提高合作能力，增加对互动伙伴的关注和记忆）。尽管如此，据我们所知，迄今为止还没有人试图提供或测试一个连贯的理论框架，以理解构成同步行为的频率和自发性的过程，并使同步获得回报。因此，拟议的研究将提供第一批数据，说明同步及其结果发生的原因和时间。简而言之，我们试图证明同步降低了信息处理成本，扩展了资源和能力，肯定了自我和善良，并提高了目标的实现。这项提议的研究利用了两种新的同步操作：音乐指导的运动和基于计算机的“短信”（基于节拍的短信）。由音乐指导的运动任务（由PI开发）要求参与者随着耳机播放的音乐及时做出简单的动作（通常是点头），参与者（在不知情的情况下）被随机分配以相同或不同的节奏听音乐，从而引发同步或异步运动。与其他同步性范例（即选择节奏来指导他们的动作）相比，音乐的使用和这种范例给参与者提供的更大的能动性使任务非常吸引人，从而提供了更强效果的潜力。在bxting范式（由Co-I开发）中，参与者以指定的频率按键盘键，由计算机显示器上显示的视觉提示指示，与另一个表面上的参与者（由计算机程序模拟）进行通信。这种范式的实用性在于，它允许对同步进行精确的实验控制，避免将同步与成功的任务表现混淆，并且适用于功能磁共振成像研究。此外，由于它不需要面对面的互动，它可以对许多因素进行正交操作（例如，合作伙伴的社会类别成员，合作伙伴是作为另一个人还是一台计算机呈现，参与者是被分配为领导者还是追随者的角色）。拟议的方案将利用这种影响和控制的平衡，并利用社会、认知和感知任务。该计划将包括9个实验：实验1-3将测试该模型的经典条件反射部分——即，以前无意义的刺激现在是否与同步性有积极的联系。实验4-5将测试我们模型的感知流畅性组成部分——即，同步是否会导致更流畅和更愉快的处理。实验6-9将测试模型的自我-他人重叠部分——即，同步是否会导致自我和他人的整合表征。实验9还设计用于验证同步可以产生回旋效应的预测。根据我们的模型，同步将导致自我-他人重叠及其结果的可能性取决于他人是促进还是阻碍目标实现，因此最后的实验将引入合作还是竞争作为互动动机。

Interpersonal synchrony -- moving in time and space with another person or persons -- should require effort to both achieve and maintain, and yet synchrony emerges frequently and spontaneously in many interactions. The prevalence of synchrony suggests that it must be sufficiently rewarding to offset its costs -- and, indeed, this is borne out by research documenting the diverse positive outcomes of synchrony (e.g., greater rapport and desire for affiliation, more secure mother-infant attachment, improved cooperative ability, increased attention to and memory for interaction partners). Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no attempts to date to provide or test a coherent theoretical framework for understanding the processes that underlie the frequency and spontaneity of synchronisation behaviour and make synchrony rewarding. As such, the proposed research will provide the first data that speak to the questions of why and when synchrony and its outcomes occur. In short, we seek to demonstrate that synchrony lowers information-processing costs, expands resources and capacities, affirms self and kind, and enhances goal attainment. The proposed research makes use of two novel manipulations of synchrony: music-directed movement and computer-based "bexting" (beat-based texting). The music-directed movement task (developed by the PI) requires participants to make simple movements (usually, nodding) in time with music presented over headphones, and participants are (unknowingly) randomly assigned to hear the music at either the same tempo or at different tempos, thereby eliciting synchronous or asynchronous movement. The use of music and the greater agency afforded to participants by this paradigm compared to other synchrony paradigms (i.e., in choosing the tempo to guide their movement) makes the task very engaging, thus providing the potential for stronger effects. In the bexting paradigm (developed by the Co-I), participants press a keyboard key at a designated frequency, indicated by a visual cue that appears on the computer monitor, to communicate with another ostensible participant (simulated by the computer program).The utility of this paradigm is that it allows precise experimental control of synchrony, avoids confounding synchrony with successful task performance, and is suitable for fMRI investigations. In addition, because it does not require face-to-face interaction, it enables the orthogonally manipulation of a host of factors (e.g., the partner's social category membership, whether the partner is presented as another person or a computer, whether the participants is assigned the role of leader or follower). The proposed programme will capitalise on this balance of impact and control, and make use of social, cognitive, and perceptual tasks. The programme will comprises nine experiments: Experiments 1-3 will test the classical conditioning component of the model -- namely, whether previously meaningless stimuli now associated with synchrony come to have a positive association. Experiments 4-5 will test the perceptual fluency component of our model -- namely, whether synchrony leads to more fluent and more enjoyable processing. Experiments 6-9 will test the self-other overlap component of the model -- namely, whether synchrony leads to integrated representations of self and other. Experiment 9 is also designed to test the prediction that synchrony can produce boomerang effects. According to our model, the likelihood that synchrony will lead to self-other overlap and its outcomes depends on whether the other facilitates versus hinders goal attainment, and so this final experiment will introduce cooperation versus competition as interaction motives.