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. 2022 Sep 6:16:912729.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.912729. eCollection 2022.

Dyadic nonverbal synchrony during pre and post music therapy interventions and its relationship to self-reported therapy readiness

Sun Sun Yap  1   2   3 , Fabian T Ramseyer  4 , Jörg Fachner  2   3 , Clemens Maidhof  2   3 , Wolfgang Tschacher  5 , Gerhard Tucek  1   2
Affiliations

Dyadic nonverbal synchrony during pre and post music therapy interventions and its relationship to self-reported therapy readiness

Sun Sun Yap et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Nonverbal interpersonal synchronization has been established as an important factor in therapeutic relationships, and the differentiation of who leads the interaction appears to provide further important information. We investigated nonverbal synchrony - quantified as the coordination of body movement between patient and therapist. This was observed in music therapy dyads, while engaged in verbal interaction before and after a music intervention in the session. We further examined associations with patients' self-reported therapy readiness at the beginning of the session. Eleven neurological in-patients participated in this study. Our results showed an increase in both nonverbal synchrony and patient leading after the music intervention. A significant negative correlation was found between self-reported therapy readiness and nonverbal synchrony after the music intervention. These findings point to the empathic ability of the music therapist to sense patients' therapy readiness. Higher patient leading in nonverbal synchrony after the music intervention may thus indicate that the music intervention may have allowed dyadic entrainment to take place, potentially increasing self-regulation and thus empowering patients.

Keywords: motion energy analysis; music therapy; neurological rehabilitation; nonverbal synchrony; therapeutic relationship; therapy readiness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Music therapy session schematic.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Screenshot of the motion energy analysis (MEA, Version 4.03).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Effect size (ES) of synchrony above pseudosynchrony for window sizes of 10, 20, and 30 s. |zCCF|, Fisher’s Z absolute mean cross-correlation.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Synchrony vs pseudosynchrony. (A) Effect size of pretalk, posttalk, and pseudosynchrony. |zCCF|, Fisher’s Z absolute mean cross-correlation. (B) Lag-plot of pretalk and posttalk synchrony. Gray line = pseudosynchrony (random).
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Comparison of pretalk and posttalk nonverbal synchrony. (A) Comparison based on all lags values (grand average). (B) Comparison based on lag zero values (only lag zero cross-correlations). —zCCF— Fisher’s Z absolute mean cross-correlation.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
(A) Relative amounts (percentages) of therapist leading vs patient leading in pretalk nonverbal synchrony. (B) Relative amounts (percentages) of therapist leading vs patient leading in posttalk nonverbal synchrony.
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