Nonverbal synchrony and affect in dyadic interactions.
Open accessAbstract
In an experiment on dyadic social interaction, we invited participants to verbal interactions in cooperative, competitive, and 'fun task' conditions. We focused on the link between interactants' affectivity and their nonverbal synchrony, and explored which further variables contributed to affectivity: interactants' personality traits, sex, and the prescribed interaction tasks. Nonverbal synchrony was quantified by the coordination of interactants' body movement, using an automated video-analysis algorithm (motion energy analysis). Traits were assessed with standard questionnaires of personality, attachment, interactional style, psychopathology, and interpersonal reactivity. We included 168 previously unacquainted individuals who were randomly allocated to same-sex dyads (84 females, 84 males, mean age 27.8 years). Dyads discussed four topics of general interest drawn from an urn of eight topics, and finally engaged in a fun interaction. Each interaction lasted 5 min. In between interactions, participants repeatedly assessed their affect. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we found moderate to strong effect sizes for synchrony to occur, especially in competitive and fun task conditions. Positive affect was associated positively with synchrony, negative affect was associated negatively. As for causal direction, data supported the interpretation that synchrony entailed affect rather than vice versa. The link between nonverbal synchrony and affect was strongest in female dyads. The findings extend previous reports of synchrony and mimicry associated with emotion in relationships and suggest a possible mechanism of the synchrony-affect correlation.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Movement synchrony was associated with increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect.
“The results showed that movement synchrony was associated with increases in positive affect and decreases in negative affect.”
From Synchrony in Psychotherapy: A Review and an Integrative Framework for the Therapeutic Alliance (2016) · cites this paper as Tschacher et al., 2014b
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach.
Davis, M. H. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113 · Cited by 10,272 · see citing works
Inventory of interpersonal problems: Psychometric properties and clinical applications.
Horowitz, L. M., Rosenberg, S. E., Baer, B. A., Ureño, G., & Villaseñor, V. S. (1988) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.56.6.885 · Cited by 2,026 · see citing works
Imitation, empathy, and mirror neurons
Iacoboni, M. (2009) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163604 · Cited by 1,606 · see citing works
It's All in the Timing: Interpersonal Synchrony Increases Affiliation
Hove, M. J., & Risen, J. L. (2009) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.949 · Cited by 1,334 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Studies have demonstrated that synchronized motor activity increases both cooperation and affiliation (Hove and Risen, 2009; Wiltermuth and Heath, 2009).”
BackgroundInfluentialThe nature of rapport and its nonverbal correlates
Tickle-Degnen, L., & Rosenthal, R. (1990) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0104_1 · Cited by 960 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Rapport was conceptualized according to Tickle-Degnen and Rosenthal (1990), who identified three aspects: Mutual attentiveness, positivity, and coordination.”
MethodInterpersonal synchrony: a survey of evaluation methods across disciplines.
Delaherche, E., Chetouani, M., Mahdhaoui, A., Saint-Georges, C., Viaux, S., & Cohen, D. (2012) · IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing · doi:10.1109/t-affc.2012.12 · Cited by 474 · see citing works
Argument disrupts interpersonal synchrony
Paxton, A., & Dale, R. (2013) · Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology · doi:10.1080/17470218.2013.853089 · Cited by 181 · see citing works
Frame-differencing methods for measuring bodily synchrony in conversation.
Paxton, A., & Dale, R. (2013) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/s13428-012-0249-2 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
Sync or sink? Interpersonal synchrony impacts self-esteem
Lumsden, J., Miles, L. K., & Macrae, C. N. (2014) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01064 · Cited by 118 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 53
- Altmann U. (2011). “Investigation of movement synchrony using windowed cross-lagged regression,” in Analysis of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and Enactment. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 6800 eds Esposito A. Vinciarelli A. Vicsi K. Pelachaud C. Nijholt A. (Berlin: Springer-Verlag), 335– 345 10.1007/978-3-642-25775-9-31 · DOI
- Bavelas J. B. Black A. Lemery C. R. Mullett J. Eisenberg N. (1987). “Motor mimicry as primitive empathy,” in Empathy and its Development ed. Strayer J. (New York: Cambridge University Press) 317– 338.
- Bernieri F. J. Davis J. M. Rosenthal R. Knee C. R. (1994). Interactional synchrony and rapport: measuring synchrony in displays devoid of sound and facial affect. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 20 303– 311 10.1177/0146167294203008 · DOI
- Bernieri F. J. Gillis J. S. Davis J. M. Grahe J. E. (1996). Dyad rapport and the accuracy of its judgment across situations: a lens model analysis. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 71 110– 129 10.1037/0022-3514.71.1.110 · DOI
- Bernieri F. J. Reznick S. Rosenthal R. (1988). Synchrony, pseudosynchrony, and dissynchrony: measuring the entrainment process in mother-infant interactions. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 54 243– 253 10.1037/0022-3514.54.2.243 · DOI · Paper page
- Bernieri F. J. Rosenthal R. (1991). “Interpersonal coordination: behavior matching and interactional synchrony,” in Fundamentals of Nonverbal Behavior. Studies in Emotion and Social Interaction eds Feldman R. S. Rime B. (New York: Cambridge University Press), 401– 432.
- Blake R. Shiffrar M. (2007). Perception of human motion. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 58 47– 73 10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.19015 16903802 · DOI
- Boker S. M. Xu M. Rotondo J. L. King K. (2002). Windowed cross-correlation and peak picking for the analysis of variability in the association between behavioral time series. Psychol. Methods 7 338– 355 10.1037//1082-989X.7.3.338 12243305 · DOI
- Burgoon J. K. Stern L. A. Dillman L. (1995). Interpersonal Adaptation: Dyadic Interaction Patterns. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press 10.1017/CBO9780511720314 · DOI
- Carver C. S. (1997). Adult attachment and personality: converging evidence and a new measure. Pers. Soc. Psychol. Bull. 23 865– 883 10.1177/0146167297238007 · DOI
- Chartrand T. L. Bargh J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: the perception-behavior link and social interaction. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 76 893– 910 10.1037/0022-3514.76.6.893 10402679 · DOI · Paper page
- Chartrand T. L. Lakin J. L. (2013). The antecedents and consequences of human behavioral mimicry. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 64 285– 308 10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143754 23020640 · DOI · Paper page
- Chovil N. (1991). Discourse-oriented facial displays in conversation. Res. Lang. Soc. Interact. 25 163– 194 10.1080/08351819109389361 · DOI
- Condon W. S. Ogston W. D. (1966). Sound film analysis of normal and pathological behavior patterns. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 143 338– 457 10.1097/00005053-196610000-00005 5958766 · DOI
- Davis M. (ed.). (1982). Interaction Rhythms. Periodicity in Communicative Behavior. New York: Human Sciences Press.
- De Dreu C. K. Weingart L. R. Kwon S. (2000). Influence of social motives on integrative negotiation: a meta-analytic review and test of two theories. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 78 889– 905 10.1037/0022-3514.78.5.889 10821196 · DOI
- Dunbar N. E. Abra G. (2010). Observations of dyadic power in interpersonal interaction. Commu. Monogr. 77 657– 684 10.1080/03637751.2010.520018 · DOI
- Fuchs T. Jaegher H. (2009). Enactive intersubjectivity: participatory sense-making and mutual incorporation. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 8 465– 486 10.1007/s11097-009-9136-4 · DOI
- Fuchs T. Koch S. C. (2014). Embodied affectivity: on moving and being moved. Front. Psychol. 5: 508 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00508 PMC4047516 24936191 · DOI
- Gallese V. (2005). Embodied simulation: from neurons to phenomenal experience. Phenomenol. Cogn. Sci. 4 23– 48 10.1007/s11097-005-4737-z · DOI · Paper page
- Gottman J. M. Notarius C. I. (2000). Decade review: observing marital interaction. J. Marriage Fam. 62 927– 947 10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00927.x · DOI
- Grammer K. Filova V. Fieder M. (1997). “The communication paradox and possible solutions,” in New Aspects of Human Ethology eds Schmitt A. Atzwanger K. Grammer K. Schaefer K. (London: Plenum Press), 91– 120 10.1007/978-0-585-34289-4_6 · DOI
- Grammer K. Honda R. Schmitt A. Jütte A. (1999). Fuzziness of nonverbal courtship communication unblurred by motion energy detection. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 77 487– 508 10.1037/0022-3514.77.3.487 10510505 · DOI
- Graziano W. G. Jensen-Campbell L. A. Hair E. C. (1996). Perceiving interpersonal conflict and reacting to it: the case for agreeableness. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 70 820 10.1037/0022-3514.70.4.820 8636901 · DOI
- Haken H. (1977). Synergetics–An Introduction. Nonequilibrium Phase-Transitions and Self-Organization in Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Berlin: Springer.
- Hall N. R. Millings A. Boucas S. B. (2012). Adult attachment orientation and implicit behavioral mimicry. J. Nonverbal Behav. 36 235– 247 10.1007/s10919-012-0136-7 · DOI
- Hatfield E. Cacioppo J. T. Rapson R. L. (1994). Emotional Contagion. (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press).
- Hatfield E. Rapson R. L. Le Y. C. L. (2009). “Emotional contagion and empathy,” in The Social Neuroscience of Empathy eds Decety J. Ickes W. (Boston, MA: MIT Press), 19– 30 10.7551/mitpress/9780262012973.003.0003 · DOI · Paper page
- Horowitz L. M. Strauss B. Kordy H. (1994). IIP-D. Inventar zur Erfassung Interpersonaler Probleme. Deutsche Version. Weinheim: Beltz. 10593141
- Kenny D. A. Kashy D. A. Cook W. L. (2006). Dyadic Data Analysis. New York: Guilford Press.
- Kupper Z. Ramseyer F. Hoffmann H. Kalbermatten S. Tschacher W. (2010). Video-based quantification of body movement during social interaction indicates the severity of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophr. Res. 121 90– 100 10.1016/j.schres.2010.03.032 20434313 · DOI
- Kyselo M. Tschacher W. (2014). An enactive and dynamical systems theory account of dyadic relationships. Front. Psychol. 5: 452 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00452 PMC4038949 24910623 · DOI
- Miles L. K. Griffiths J. L. Richardson M. J. Macrae C. N. (2010). Too late to coordinate: contextual influences on behavioral synchrony. Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 40 52– 60 10.1002/ejsp.721 · DOI
- Nagaoka C. Komori M. (2008). Body movement synchrony in psychotherapeutic counseling: a study using the video-based quantification method. IEICE Trans. Inform. Syst. E91 1634– 1640 10.1093/ietisy/e91-d.6.1634 · DOI
- Nelson A. Grahe J. Ramseyer F. Serier K. (2014). Psychological data from an exploration of the rapport / synchroy interplay using motion energy analysis. J. Open Psychol. Data 2 e5. 10.5334/jopd.ae · DOI
- Nicolis G. Prigogine I. (1977). Self-Organization in Nonequilibrium Systems: From Dissipative Structures to Order through Fluctuations. New York: Wiley-Interscience.
- Ramseyer F. (2008). Synchronisation nonverbaler Interaktion in der Psychotherapie. [Synchrony of Nonverbal Interaction in Psychotherapy]. Doctoral Dissertation, Institute of Psychology, Bern Available at: www.psync.ch
- Ramseyer F. Tschacher W. (2010). “Nonverbal synchrony or random coincidence? How to tell the difference,” in Development of Multimodal Interfaces: Active Listening and Synchrony eds Esposito A. Campbell N. Vogel C. Hussain A. Nijholt A. (Berlin: Springer), 182– 196.
- Ramseyer F. Tschacher W. (2011). Nonverbal synchrony in psychotherapy: coordinated body-movement reflects relationship quality and outcome. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 79 284– 295 10.1037/a0023419 21639608 · DOI · Paper page
- Ramseyer F. Tschacher W. (2014). Nonverbal synchrony of head- and body-movement in psychotherapy: different signals have different associations with outcome. Front. Psychol. 5: 979 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00979 PMC4155778 25249994 · DOI · Paper page
- Richardson D. Dale R. Shockley K. (2008). “Synchrony and swing in conversation: coordination, temporal dynamics, and communication,” in Embodied Communication in Humans and Machines eds Wachsmuth I. Lenzen M. Knoblich G. (New York: Oxford University Pres), 75– 94.
- Rodriguez E. George N. Lachaux J. P. Martinerie J. Renault B. Varela F. J. (1999). Perception’s shadow: long-distance synchronization of human brain activity. Nature 397 430– 433 10.1038/17120 9989408 · DOI · Paper page
- Salvatore S. Tschacher W. (2012). Time dependency of psychotherapeutic exchanges: the contribution of the theory of dynamic systems in analyzing process. Front. Psychol. 3: 253 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00253 PMC3404413 22848205 · DOI
- Scheflen A. E. (1964). The significance of posture in communication systems. Psychiatry 27 316– 331. 14216879
- Schmidt R. C. Morr S. Fitzpatrick P. Richardson M. J. (2012). Measuring the dynamics of interactional synchrony. J. Nonverbal Behav. 36 263– 279 10.1007/s10919-012-0138-5 · DOI
- Seiter J. S. Weger H. Kinzer H. J. Jensen A. S. (2009). Impression management in televised debates: the effect of background nonverbal behavior on audience perceptions of debaters’ likeability. Commu. Res. Rep. 26 1– 11 10.1080/08824090802636959 · DOI
- Stel M. Vonk R. (2010). Mimicry in social interaction: benefits for mimickers, mimickees, and their interaction. Br. J. Psychol. 101 311– 323 10.1348/000712609X46542 19646328 · DOI
- Thompson L. (1990). Negotiation behavior and outcomes: empirical evidence and theoretical issues. Psychol. Bull. 108 515– 532 10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.515 · DOI
- Tschacher W. Haken H. (2007). Intentionality in non-equilibrium systems? The functional aspects of self-organized pattern formation. New Ideas Psychol. 25 1– 15 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2006.09.002 · DOI · Paper page
- Vallacher R. R. Nowak A. (2009). “The dynamics of human experience: fundamentals of dynamical social psychology,” in Chaos and Complexity in Psychology: The Theory of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, eds Guastello S. J. Koopmans M. Pincus D. (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press), 370– 401.
- Wallbott H. G. (1996). “Congruence, contagion, and motor mimicry: mutualities in nonverbal exchange,” in Mutualities in Dialogue, eds Markova I. Grauman C. F. Foppa K. (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press), 82– 98.
- Wiltermuth S. S. Heath C. (2009). Synchrony and cooperation. Psychol. Sci. 20 1– 5 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02253.x 19152536 · DOI · Paper page
- Yong E. (2012). Replication studies: bad copy. Nature 485 298– 300 10.1038/485298a 22596136 · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mogan, R., Fischer, R., & Bulbulia, J. A. (2017) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2017.03.009 · Cited by 477 · see citing works
Synchrony in Psychotherapy: A Review and an Integrative Framework for the Therapeutic Alliance
Koole, S. L., & Tschacher, W. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00862 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
“However, therapeutic effects of the alliance are by no means incompatible with specific factors, and indeed, the two types of factors are likely to interact in psychotherapy (Tschacher et al., 2014a).”
BackgroundSelf-citationMoulder, R. G., Boker, S. M., Ramseyer, F., & Tschacher, W. (2018) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/met0000172 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Self-citationNozawa, T., Sakaki, K., Ikeda, S., Jeong, H., Yamazaki, S., Kawata, K. H. D. S., Kawata, N. Y. D. S., Sasaki, Y., Kulason, K., Hirano, K., et al. (2019) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-019-49257-z · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Coutinho, J., Pereira, A., Oliveira‐Silva, P., Meier, D., Lourenço, V., & Tschacher, W. (2021) · Psychophysiology · doi:10.1111/psyp.13739 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Self-citationPsychophysiological synchrony during verbal interaction in romantic relationships
Coutinho, J., Oliveira‐Silva, P., Fernandes, E., Gonçalves, O. F., Correia, D., Perrone Mc‐Govern, K., & Tschacher, W. (2019) · Family Process · doi:10.1111/famp.12371 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Socio-Temporal Brain: Connecting People in Time
Schirmer, A., Meck, W. H., & Penney, T. B. (2016) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2016.08.002 · Cited by 83 · see citing works
Evaluating Interpersonal Synchrony: Wavelet Transform Toward an Unstructured Conversation
Fujiwara, K., & Daibo, I. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00516 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Out of sync: nonverbal synchrony in social anxiety disorder
Asher, M., Kauffmann, A., & Aderka, I. M. (2020) · Clinical Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/2167702619894566 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Alliance: a common factor of psychotherapy modeled by structural theory.
Tschacher, W., Haken, H., & Kyselo, M. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00421 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationInterpersonal synchronization of spontaneously generated body movements
Koul, A., Ahmar, D., Iannetti, G. D., & Novembre, G. (2023) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106104 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Movement synchrony and attachment related anxiety and avoidance in social anxiety disorder.
Schoenherr, D., Strauss, B., Paulick, J., Deisenhofer, A.-K., Schwartz, B., Rubel, J. A., Boyle, K., Lutz, W., Stangier, U., & Altmann, U. (2021) · Journal of Psychotherapy Integration · doi:10.1037/int0000187 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Blink as you sync: uncovering eye and nod synchrony in conversation using wearable sensing
Gupta, A., Strivens, F. L., Tag, B., Kunze, K., & Ward, J. A. (2019) · Proceedings of the 23rd International Symposium on Wearable Computers · doi:10.1145/3341163.3347736 · Cited by 27 · see citing works
Perspective-taking influences autonomic attunement between partners during discussion of conflict
Nelson, B. W., Laurent, S. M., Bernstein, R., & Laurent, H. K. (2017) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/0265407515626595 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
When two hearts beat as one: Heart-rate synchrony in social anxiety disorder
Asher, M., Barthel, A. L., Hofmann, S. G., Okon-Singer, H., & Aderka, I. M. (2021) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2021.103859 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
A systematic review of hyperscanning in clinical encounters
Adel, L., Moses, L., Irvine, E., Greenway, K. T., Dumas, G., & Lifshitz, M. (2025) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2025.106248 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- Tschacher, W., Rees, G. M., & Ramseyer, F.
- Affiliations
- University of Bern (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Tschacher, Wolfgang
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-11-24
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 1323-1323
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4241744
- OpenAlex
- W2168822232
- Cited by
- 351
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 37 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 7 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 18.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Funders
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology
- Department of Home Affairs
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Health, Education, and Physical Culture
- Keywords
- nonverbal synchrony, affect, dyadic interaction, motor coordination, positive affect, negative affect, competitive interactions, collaborative interaction, sex differences, personality traits, interpersonal reactivity, attachment, psychopathology, interaction styles, mimicry, causal direction
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
