Bio-behavioral synchrony is a potential mechanism for mate selection in humans

Abstract

The decision with whom to form a romantic bond is of great importance, yet the biological or behavioral mechanisms underlying this selective process in humans are largely unknown. Classic evolutionary theories of mate selection emphasize immediate and static features such as physical appearance and fertility. However, they do not explain how initial attraction temporally unfolds during an interaction, nor account for mutual physiological or behavioral adaptations that take place when two people become attracted. Instead, recent theories on social bonding emphasize the importance of co-regulation during social interactions (i.e., the social coordination of physiology and behavior between partners), and predict that co-regulation plays a role in bonding with others. In a speed-date experiment of forty-six heterosexual dates, we recorded the naturally occurring patterns of electrodermal activity and behavioral motion in men and women, and calculated their co-regulation during the date. We demonstrate that co-regulation of behavior and physiology is associated with the date outcome: when a man and a woman synchronize their electrodermal activity and dynamically tune their behavior to one another, they are more likely to be romantically and sexually attracted to one another. This study supports the hypothesis that co-regulation of sympathetic and behavioral rhythms between a man and a woman serves as a mechanism that promotes attraction.

Impact of emotion-laden acoustic stimuli on group synchronisation performance

“…We are not aware of any studies reporting differences in synchronisation performance between sexes, but previous research reported (1) advantage in males since adolescence in the motor timing task (attributed to faster motor learning) 41 and (2) enhanced spatio-temporal performance of males in a visuo-oculo-manual motor task (attributed to faster prediction process coupling target motion to a tracking hand) 42 . In a recent study 43 a novel piece of evidence emerged that heterosexual women report higher attraction to males who are ’super synchronisers’ during naturalistic socio-motor interaction (measured as level of coupling in body alignment), which suggests perhaps that there is a innate advantage in males, who are more attuned to sensori-motor signals. This interaction effect reaffirms the need for future experimental work to validate the main effects reported here, and to clarify the nature of the interaction between empathetic disposition and synchronisation performance, independent of emotional induction.…”

The moderating role of attachment in the association between physiological synchrony in married couples and supportive behavior in the transition to parenthood

“…Figure 1 represents couples' synchrony scores arranged in ascending order. This approach to computing synchrony has been published in a series of previous works by our group as well as other researchers in the field Behrens, Snijdewint, et al, 2020;Dor-Ziderman et al, 2021;Golland et al, 2014Golland et al, , 2015Golland et al, , 2019Mauss et al, 2005;Zeevi et al, 2022).…”

From distal to proximal to interactive: Behavioral and brain synchrony during attraction, courtship, and sexual interaction

“…This behavioral synchrony between potential partners in a mating context co-occurs with physiological synchrony. In a speed-dating experiment (Zeevi et al, 2022), couples with more synchronized electrodermal activity (a marker of autonomic arousal), were also more attracted to each other.…”