Embodied perspective-taking enhances interpersonal synchronization: A body-swap study

Mattia Rosso; Bavo van Kerrebroeck; Pieter-Jan Maes; Marc Leman

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.108099

Embodied perspective-taking enhances interpersonal synchronization: A body-swap study

iScience. 2023 Sep 29;26(11):108099. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108099. eCollection 2023 Nov 17.

Authors

Mattia Rosso^{1

2}, Bavo van Kerrebroeck^{1

3

4}, Pieter-Jan Maes¹, Marc Leman¹

Affiliations

¹ IPEM - Institute for Systematic Musicology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Flanders, Belgium.
² PSITEC - Psychologie: Interactions, Temps, Emotions, Cognition - ULR 4072, University of Lille, 59650 Lille, Hauts-de-France, France.
³ SPL - Sequence Production Lab, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1B1, Canada.
⁴ IDMIL - Input Devices. And Music Interaction Laboratory, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 1E3, Canada.

Abstract

Humans exhibit a strong tendency to synchronize movements with each other, with visual perspective potentially influencing interpersonal synchronization. By manipulating the visual scenes of participants engaged in a joint finger-tapping task, we examined the effects of 1^st person and 2^nd person visual perspectives on their coordination dynamics. We hypothesized that perceiving the partner's movements from their 1^st person perspective would enhance spontaneous interpersonal synchronization, potentially mediated by the embodiment of the partner's hand. We observed significant differences in attractor dynamics across visual perspectives. Specifically, participants in 1^st person coupling were unable to maintain de-coupled trajectories as effectively as in 2^nd person coupling. Our findings suggest that visual perspective influences coordination dynamics in dyadic interactions, engaging error-correction mechanisms in individual brains as they integrate the partner's hand into their body representation. Our results have the potential to inform the development of applications for motor training and rehabilitation.

Keywords: Behavioral neuroscience; Biological sciences; Cognitive neuroscience.