Embodied Synchronization and Complexity in a Verbal Interaction

Previous research has found that spontaneous synchronization of bodily movements emerges when people interact. This dynamic interactional synchrony occurs in all kinds of everyday movements and has been demonstrated empirically in a variety of social contexts. The objective of this study is to advance our understanding of the dynamical processes that enable the spontaneous and fluid coordination of movements in more naturalistic social interactions. We measured the degree of interactional synchrony of 44 dyads who enacted a series of knock-knock jokes together and we manipulated the perceptual information available (using auditory occlusion) and the individuals' dynamical motor "signatures" by weighting their limbs. Our analyses using relative phase and fractal/multifractal measures support the conclusion that both local and global dynamical synchronization processes sustain the interactional fluidity seen in conversational exchanges and provide an embodied foundation for how humans connect and cooperate socially.