About this Research Topic
Interpersonal synchrony, the temporal coordination between individuals during social interactions, is a cornerstone of human connection. This phenomenon has been shown to play a critical role in fostering social bonds, enhancing prosocial behaviors, and facilitating mutual understanding. However, more synchrony isn't always beneficial, as synchrony could also be related to conflict escalation.
Synchrony can manifest in various forms, including the attunement of psychophysiology, movement, and emotions, thus reflecting the dynamic and multifaceted nature of human interactions. Despite its importance, the precise mechanisms by which synchrony occurs, as well as its developmental trajectory and the contextual factors that influence it, remain areas of active investigation. Understanding these elements is crucial for advancing our knowledge of how human connections are formed and sustained across different stages of life.
This Research Topic aims to bring together research that explores embodied synchrony, with a focus on understanding how synchrony occurs across various interactional modalities. The collection is interested in all the ways synchrony can manifest during social interactions, whether through verbal or nonverbal channels. For example, synchrony may arise in physiological processes, such as autonomic nervous system responses like heart rate or electrodermal activity. It can also be observed in body movements, as individuals unconsciously coordinate their gestures and postures, or in facial expressions, by which emotions are mirrored between people. Additionally, synchrony may be evident in prosody and tone of voice, when the rhythm, loudness or pitch of speech between individuals harmonize.
By examining these and other modalities, this collection seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of how synchrony is formed, maintained, and influenced across different social contexts and throughout the lifespan. Authors may include contributions that explore these dimensions, aiming to advance our knowledge of the role of synchrony in human interactions and its potential applications in enhancing social connection and well-being.
All kinds of submissions that explore the broad and dynamic phenomenon of embodied attunement between individuals, conceptualized through various lenses such as: synchrony, responsiveness, entrainment, mirroring, concordance, interpersonal coordination, mimicry, co-modulation, co-regulation, attunement, adaptation, alignment, linkage, resonance, and imitation are encouraged.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions that address themes including, but not limited to:
• The role of synchrony in dyads, groups, and multi-person systems
• Intrapersonal synchrony; coherence between different modalities of interaction and personal experiences of synchrony
• The role of interpersonal synchrony in the formation and quality of early-life attachments and its impact on later developmental outcomes
• Mechanisms underlying synchrony and attunement in romantic, familial, and social relationships across the lifespan
• The influence of personality, attachment style, and emotion regulation skills on interpersonal synchrony
• Technological or methodological advancements in creating, manipulating, and measuring synchrony and attunement, including wearable devices and computational modeling
• Interdisciplinary approaches to studying synchrony and attunement
• Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method work exploring the inter- or intrapersonal effects of synchrony
• The application of synchrony research in clinical settings, educational practices, and enhancing well-being
• In and out of synchrony processes and dynamics, for example, rupture and repair
• Problems in connecting to other people, and adverse effects or non-beneficial aspects of synchrony
The collection encourages submissions of original research articles, reviews, methodological innovations, brief reports, and theoretical papers that expand the current understanding of interpersonal synchrony and its implications across various domains.
Synchrony can manifest in various forms, including the attunement of psychophysiology, movement, and emotions, thus reflecting the dynamic and multifaceted nature of human interactions. Despite its importance, the precise mechanisms by which synchrony occurs, as well as its developmental trajectory and the contextual factors that influence it, remain areas of active investigation. Understanding these elements is crucial for advancing our knowledge of how human connections are formed and sustained across different stages of life.
This Research Topic aims to bring together research that explores embodied synchrony, with a focus on understanding how synchrony occurs across various interactional modalities. The collection is interested in all the ways synchrony can manifest during social interactions, whether through verbal or nonverbal channels. For example, synchrony may arise in physiological processes, such as autonomic nervous system responses like heart rate or electrodermal activity. It can also be observed in body movements, as individuals unconsciously coordinate their gestures and postures, or in facial expressions, by which emotions are mirrored between people. Additionally, synchrony may be evident in prosody and tone of voice, when the rhythm, loudness or pitch of speech between individuals harmonize.
By examining these and other modalities, this collection seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of how synchrony is formed, maintained, and influenced across different social contexts and throughout the lifespan. Authors may include contributions that explore these dimensions, aiming to advance our knowledge of the role of synchrony in human interactions and its potential applications in enhancing social connection and well-being.
All kinds of submissions that explore the broad and dynamic phenomenon of embodied attunement between individuals, conceptualized through various lenses such as: synchrony, responsiveness, entrainment, mirroring, concordance, interpersonal coordination, mimicry, co-modulation, co-regulation, attunement, adaptation, alignment, linkage, resonance, and imitation are encouraged.
This Research Topic welcomes contributions that address themes including, but not limited to:
• The role of synchrony in dyads, groups, and multi-person systems
• Intrapersonal synchrony; coherence between different modalities of interaction and personal experiences of synchrony
• The role of interpersonal synchrony in the formation and quality of early-life attachments and its impact on later developmental outcomes
• Mechanisms underlying synchrony and attunement in romantic, familial, and social relationships across the lifespan
• The influence of personality, attachment style, and emotion regulation skills on interpersonal synchrony
• Technological or methodological advancements in creating, manipulating, and measuring synchrony and attunement, including wearable devices and computational modeling
• Interdisciplinary approaches to studying synchrony and attunement
• Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method work exploring the inter- or intrapersonal effects of synchrony
• The application of synchrony research in clinical settings, educational practices, and enhancing well-being
• In and out of synchrony processes and dynamics, for example, rupture and repair
• Problems in connecting to other people, and adverse effects or non-beneficial aspects of synchrony
The collection encourages submissions of original research articles, reviews, methodological innovations, brief reports, and theoretical papers that expand the current understanding of interpersonal synchrony and its implications across various domains.
Keywords: Interpersonal Synchrony, Responsiveness, Mirroring, Concordance, Interpersonal coordination, Mimicry, Co-modulation, Co-regulation, Attunement, Linkage, Resonance
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
