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Collective synchronized behavior has powerful social-communicative functions observed across several animal taxa.1Couzin I.D. Synchronization: the key to effective communication in animal collectives.Trends Cogn. Sci. 2018; 22: 844-846https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.08.001Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (62) Google Scholar,2Buck J. Buck E. Mechanism of rhythmic synchronous flashing of fireflies. Fireflies of Southeast Asia may use anticipatory time-measuring in synchronizing their flashing.Science. 1968; 159: 1319-1327https://doi.org/10.1126/science.159.3821.1319Crossref PubMed Scopus (271) Google Scholar,3Greenfield M.D. Merker B. Coordinated rhythms in animal species, including humans: Entrainment from bushcricket chorusing to the philharmonic orchestra.Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 2023; 153105382https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105382Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar,4Cavagna A. Cimarelli A. Giardina I. Parisi G. Santagati R. Stefanini F. Viale M. Scale-free correlations in starling flocks.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2010; 107: 11865-11870https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1005766107Crossref PubMed Scopus (716) Google Scholar,5Partridge B.L. The structure and function of fish Schools.Sci. Am. 1982; 246: 114-123https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0682-114Crossref PubMed Scopus (449) Google Scholar,6Keller P.E. Novembre G. Hove M.J. Rhythm in joint action: psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms for real-time interpersonal coordination.Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 2014; 369: 20130394https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0394Crossref PubMed Scopus (269) Google Scholar,7Forli A. Yartsev M.M. Hippocampal representation during collective spatial behaviour in bats.Nature. 2023; 621: 796-803https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06478-7Crossref Scopus (2) Google Scholar Operationally, synchronized behavior can be explained by individuals responding to shared external cues (e.g., light, sound, or food) as well as by inter-individual adaptation.3Greenfield M.D. Merker B. Coordinated rhythms in animal species, including humans: Entrainment from bushcricket chorusing to the philharmonic orchestra.Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 2023; 153105382https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105382Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar,8Parrish J.K. Edelstein-Keshet L. Complexity, pattern, and evolutionary trade-offs in animal aggregation.Science. 1999; 284: 99-101https://doi.org/10.1126/science.284.5411.99Crossref PubMed Scopus (939) Google Scholar,9Knoblich G. Butterfill S. Sebanz N. Chapter three - Psychological research on joint action: theory and data.in: Ross B.H. Psychology of Learning and Motivation Advances in Research and Theory. Academic Press, 2011: 59-101https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385527-5.00003-6Google Scholar,10Holroyd C.B. Interbrain synchrony: on wavy ground.Trends Neurosci. 2022; 45: 346-357https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2022.02.002Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (36) Google Scholar,11Clayton M. Sager R. Will U. In time with the music: the concept of entrainment and its significance for ethnomusicology.Eur. Meet. Ethnomusicol. 2005; 11: 3-142Google Scholar We contrasted these accounts in the context of a universal human practice—collective dance—by recording full-body kinematics from dyads of laypersons freely dancing to music in a "silent disco" setting. We orthogonally manipulated musical input (whether participants were dancing to the same, synchronous music) and visual contact (whether participants could see their dancing partner). Using a data-driven method, we decomposed full-body kinematics of 70 participants into 15 principal movement patterns, reminiscent of common dance moves, explaining over 95% of kinematic variance. We find that both music and partners drive synchrony, but through distinct dance moves. This leads to distinct kinds of synchrony that occur in parallel by virtue of a geometric organization: anteroposterior movements such as head bobs synchronize through music, while hand gestures and full-body lateral movements synchronize through visual contact. One specific dance move—vertical bounce—emerged as a supramodal pacesetter of coordination, synchronizing through both music and visual contact, and at the pace of the musical beat. These findings reveal that synchrony in human dance is independently supported by shared musical input and inter-individual adaptation. The independence between these drivers of synchrony hinges on a geometric organization, enabling dancers to synchronize to music and partners simultaneously by allocating distinct synchronies to distinct spatial axes and body parts.
Bigand et al. (Fri,) studied this question.