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. 2021 Jan 18;16(1-2):177-184.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsaa116.

A syncing feeling: reductions in physiological arousal in response to observed social synchrony

Haley E Kragness  1   2 , Laura K Cirelli  1
Affiliations

A syncing feeling: reductions in physiological arousal in response to observed social synchrony

Haley E Kragness et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. .

Abstract

Synchronized movements are often key elements in activities where social bonding and emotional connection are a shared goal, such as religious gatherings, sporting events, parties and weddings. Previous studies have shown that synchronous movements enhance prosocial attitudes and affiliative behaviors. Similarly, observers attribute more social closeness to people moving synchronously together than people moving asynchronously. The mechanisms by which synchrony modulates these attributions are not well understood. In the present study, we ask whether viewing synchronous activities influences physiological arousal as measured by skin conductance and whether group size impacts this effect. Undergraduates viewed a series of short videos depicting people moving either (1) in or out of synchrony with each other and (2) in a large or small group. Participants' skin conductance was measured. Change in skin conductance levels and response counts were attenuated while watching synchronous movement, but only in the large-group condition. Post-hoc analyses suggest that viewer enjoyment/interest in the large-group synchronous videos mediated this association for phasic skin conductance responses, but no evidence of mediation was found for tonic skin conductance levels. Results extend previous research on affiliative effects of first-person interpersonal synchrony and demonstrate that watching others moving synchronously has an attenuating effect on observers' physiological state.

Keywords: interpersonal; movement; physiology; skin conductance; synchrony.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Depicts an representative screenshot from one video in each condition. In the full experiment, there were 12 videos per combination of conditions, for a total of 48 trials.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Tonic skin conductance levels while watching videos. A) This shows the skin conductance levels across the course of the videos (18 seconds). Here, skin conductance levels are baseline-corrected to the mean of the 5-second time window directly preceding trial onset. B) This depicts the mean tonic slope. Error bars indicate within-subject SEM (Cousineau, 2005).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Phasic skin conductance responses while watching videos. Error bars represent within-subject SEM (Cousineau, 2005).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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