Direkt zum Inhalt

Scheer, Clara ; Horn, Lisa ; Jansen, Petra

Moving in synchrony with an avatar – presenting a novel and unbiased body sway synchronization paradigm

Scheer, Clara , Horn, Lisa and Jansen, Petra (2021) Moving in synchrony with an avatar – presenting a novel and unbiased body sway synchronization paradigm. Current Psychology.

Date of publication of this fulltext: 22 Apr 2021 08:37
Article
DOI to cite this document: 10.5283/epub.45563


Abstract

Moving in synchrony with one another is a fundamental mechanism that maintains human social bonds. Yet, not all individuals are equally likely to coordinate their behaviors with others. The degree of interpersonal coordination is greatly influenced by pre-existing characteristics of the interacting partners, like the cultural homogeneity of a group, shared goals, and the likability of the other ...

Moving in synchrony with one another is a fundamental mechanism that maintains human social bonds. Yet, not all individuals are equally likely to coordinate their behaviors with others. The degree of interpersonal coordination is greatly influenced by pre-existing characteristics of the interacting partners, like the cultural homogeneity of a group, shared goals, and the likability of the other person. Considering that most research questions necessitate an experimental set-up without such uncontrolled biases, we created a novel, unbiased paradigm: a human-avatar body sway synchronization paradigm. Participants’ body sway was measured by a force plate while being exposed to a medio-laterally moving avatar. Forty-nine participants were tested in a social condition (motionless vs. moving avatar) and a non-social control condition (motionless vs. moving column). The results revealed that participants increased their body sway on their medio-lateral axis while the avatar was moving. The participants did not increase their body sway in the non-social control condition, indicating that the participant’s movement was not simply caused by a basal motion perception process. The current study builds a methodological fundament that can help to reduce biases due to pre-existing rapport between interaction partners and serves as a valuable experimental paradigm for future synchrony studies.



Involved Institutions


Details

Item typeArticle
Journal or Publication TitleCurrent Psychology
Publisher:Springer
Date16 March 2021
InstitutionsHuman Sciences > Institut für Sportwissenschaft
Identification Number
ValueType
10.1007/s12144-021-01606-wDOI
KeywordsInterpersonal synchrony, Synchronization paradigm, Avatar, Force plate, Body sway
Dewey Decimal Classification700 Arts & recreation > 796 Athletic & outdoor sports & games
StatusPublished
RefereedYes, this version has been refereed
Created at the University of RegensburgYes
URN of the UB Regensburgurn:nbn:de:bvb:355-epub-455637
Item ID45563

Export bibliographical data

Owner only: item control page

nach oben