Effects on Inter-Personal Memory of Dancing in Time with Others

Abstract

We report an experiment investigating whether dancing to the same music enhances recall of person-related memory targets. The experiment used 40 dancers (all of whom were unaware of the experiment’s aim), two-channel silent-disco radio headphones, a marked-up dance floor, two types of music, and memory targets (sash colors and symbols). In each trial, 10 dancers wore radio headphones and one of four different colored sashes, half of which carried cat symbols. Using silent-disco technology, one type of music was surreptitiously transmitted to half the dancers, while music at a different tempo was transmitted to the remaining dancers. Pre-experiment, the dancers’ faces were photographed. Post-experiment, each dancer was presented with the photographs of the other dancers and asked to recall their memory targets. Results showed that same-music dancing significantly enhanced memory for sash color and sash symbol. Our findings are discussed in light of recent eye-movement research that showed significantly increased gaze durations for people observing music-dance synchrony versus music-dance asynchrony, and in relation to current literature on interpersonal entrainment, group cohesion, and social bonding.

Interpersonal movement synchrony facilitates pro‐social behavior in children's peer‐play

“…However, analyses of eye contact and mutual smiles revealed higher occurrences of both in the synchrony than in the non-synchrony condition and that both predicted helping behavior. Previous research has shown that eye contact occurring during synchrony enhances memory for partners' physical features and utterances, which has implications for subsequent interaction (Macrae, Duffy, Miles, & Lawrence, 2008;Woolhouse, Tidhar, & Cross, 2016). Mutual smiling and eye contact also characterize children's initial interactions with their caretakers (Trevarthen, 1993) and their friendships in early childhood years (Goldman & Buysse, 2007).…”

“…Following previous research (Tarr, Launay, Cohen, & Dunbar, 2015;Valdesolo & DeSteno, 2011), we hypothesized greater enjoyment of the movement game in the synchrony than in the non-synchrony condition. It has also been suggested that bodily alignment arising from synchronous movements can enhance empathy (Feldman, 2007;Valdesolo & DeSteno, 2011), which strongly predicts children's helping behavior and social bonds with friends (Denham, Bassett, Brown, Way, & Steed, 2013;Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yarrow, & Brady-Smith, 1977). We therefore hypothesized that more helping behavior, mutual smiles, eye contact and empathy would occur following synchronous than non-synchronous movement.…”

Social Effects of Movement Synchrony: Increased Infant Helpfulness only Transfers to Affiliates of Synchronously Moving Partners

“…This hypothesis suggests that individuals who move together pay more attention to one another during the movement experience. Work with adults has supported this hypothesis by showing that increased attention toward synchronously moving individuals enhances social memory (Macrae et al., ; Woolhouse, Tidhar, & Cross ). We therefore hypothesized that infants in the synchronous movement conditions would make more direct eye contact with the experimenter than infants in the asynchronous movement conditions.…”

“…Because of our propensity to align our movements to underlying musical beats (Repp, ), moving together in time, known as interpersonal synchrony, is often achieved in a musical context. Recent work on interpersonal synchrony suggests that individuals who move together are more likely to trust and cooperate with one another (Anshel & Kippler, ; Kokal, Engel, Kirschner, & Keysers, ; Launay, Dean, & Bailes, ; Reddish, Fischer, & Bulbulia, ; Wiltermuth & Heath, ), rate each other as more likeable (Hove & Risen, ), and remember more details about one another (Macrae, Duffy, Miles, & Lawrence, ; Valdesolo, Ouyang, & DeSteno, ; Woolhouse, Tidhar & Cross, ). Four‐year‐old children who sing and move together while playing a game also show increased cooperation and helpfulness toward each other (Kirschner & Tomasello, ).…”

Dancing to “groovy” music enhances the experience of flow

“…For example, a recent study showed that the level of cooperation within a group is increased when dancing in synchrony and sharing intentionality with other members, compared with asynchronous dance . In turn, cooperation and synchronization during dance have been shown to affect higher level cognitive functions, such as memory recall of features of the people involved in the dance . Certain types of music may be more effective than others in specifically enhancing emotional responses through a group dynamic.…”