Name:Sara F. Abalde

School/Affiliation:Italian Institute of Technology

Co-Authors:Felix Bigand, Trinh Nguyen, Roberta Bianco, Peter E. Keller, Giacomo Novembre

Virtual or In-person:In-person

Abstract:

Joint music making is a universal human behavior. However, research in this domain typically involves musicians. We conducted a study in which dyads of participants played songs through e-music boxes: digital instruments that allow non-musically trained participants to control the tempo of songs through cyclic hand (instrumental) movements. Participants were asked to synchronize the outputted music with that of their partners. We tested if ancillary body movements (i.e. movements that are not necessary to output music) facilitate interpersonal synchronization, and whether that occurs irrespective of musical training. Participants performed different songs while either seeing or not seeing the partner (but always without seeing instrumental movements). The participants’ performance was encoded as continuous oscillatory data, which facilitates the computation of synchrony measures between the e-music boxes. Further, we recorded eye-tracking, full-body kinematics, and electroencephalography from both participants simultaneously. Preliminary results demonstrate that seeing the partner facilitates interpersonal synchronization, suggesting that information retrieved from partners ‘ancillary movements promotes coordination. Consistently with this, preliminary eye-tracking results indicated that the more partners' movements fell within the visual field of a participant, the stronger the facilitatory effect of vision on synchronization. The analysis of full-body kinematics and electroencephalography is expected to shed light on the sensorimotor mechanisms mediating the beneficial effect of seeing ancillary movements on interpersonal synchronization. Further, comparing dyads composed of musicians with those composed of non-musicians will establish whether these mechanisms are experience-dependent or not.