Neurobehavioral Interpersonal Synchrony in Early Development: The Role of Interactional Rhythms

Abstract

Social interactions are essential for understanding others’ actions and their mental and affective states. Specifically, interpersonal coordination – also referred to as synchrony – allows actors to adjust their behaviors to one another and thus demonstrate their connectedness to each other. Much behavioral research has demonstrated the primacy of mutually synchronized social exchanges in early development. Additionally, new methodological advances now allow us to examine interpersonal synchrony not only at the behavioral and physiological but also neural level. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how infants and their caregivers actually achieve interpersonal synchrony in their exchanges. Here we discuss recent evidence showing that adults provide rhythmical information during early social interactions with their infants, such as affective touch and singing. We propose that entrainment to these social rhythms underlies the formation of interpersonal synchrony and thus stimulates reciprocal interactions between infants and their caregivers.

Neural synchrony in mother–child conversation: Exploring the role of conversation patterns

“…, 2018 ). Here, we tested mother–child dyads, who are closer and more accustomed to one another than strangers, and thus, may be faster to find their own mutual rhythm ( Markova et al ., 2019 ). In future studies, it will be important to investigate interindividual differences of the interacting dyads’ relationship, ideally including a range of variables also comprising parent–child attachment (see Leclère et al ., 2014 ; Long et al.…”

Developmental trajectory of interpersonal motor alignment: Positive social effects and link to social cognition

“…Humans may be biologically prepared for coordinated interaction due to their responsiveness to rhythmical information and build-in tendency to detect contingencies ( Feldman, 2007b ). A recent review suggests that the establishment of interpersonal synchrony in reciprocal interactions is supported by adults’ rhythmical information to their infants ( Markova et al, 2019 ). These rhythms are often spontaneously displayed by caregivers in the form of affective touch or singing to aid the infant’s affect regulation ( Provasi et al, 2014 ).…”

What has social neuroscience learned from hyperscanning studies of spoken communication? A systematic review

“…Language is a fundamental element of human social interaction, with reciprocal communication dependent upon dynamic mutual interactions between people (Markova et al, 2019;Berwick et al, 2013). Speech production and reception, especially at lower levels where acoustic signal formation and processing occur, were initially thought to concern J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f separate cortical areas, with speaking predominantly employing Broca's area in the left prefrontal cortex, and listening utilizing the left temporal region known as Wernicke's area.…”