Joint action aesthetics dataset, 2016

Synchronized movement is a ubiquitous feature of dance and music performance. Much research into the evolutionary origins of these cultural practices has focused on why humans perform rather than watch or listen to dance and music. In this study, we show that movement synchrony among a group of performers predicts the aesthetic appreciation of live dance performances. We developed a choreography that continuously manipulated group synchronization using a defined movement vocabulary based on arm swinging, walking and running. The choreography was performed live to four audiences, as we continuously tracked the performers’ movements, and the spectators’ affective responses. We computed dynamic synchrony among performers using cross recurrence analysis of data from wrist accelerometers, and implicit measures of arousal from spectators’ heart rates. Additionally, a subset of spectators provided continuous ratings of enjoyment and perceived synchrony using tablet computers. Granger causality analyses demonstrate predictive relationships between synchrony, enjoyment ratings and spectator arousal, if audiences form a collectively consistent positive or negative aesthetic evaluation. Controlling for the influence of overall movement acceleration and visual change, we show that dance communicates group coordination via coupled movement dynamics among a group of performers. Our findings are in line with an evolutionary function of dance–and perhaps all performing arts–in transmitting social signals between groups of people. Human movement is the common denominator of dance, music and theatre. Acknowledging the time-sensitive and immediate nature of the performer-spectator relationship, our study makes a significant step towards an aesthetics of joint actions in the performing arts.

This dataset contains time-series for performer and spectator variables for all four performances.
<p>Across all cultures, people dance. Yet, little is known about what function dance and the performing arts fulfill in society, or why TV shows such as "Strictly come dancing" are so popular. We propose that the appeal of dancing and watching dance partly lies in promoting and communicating successful cooperation between people. Research in social psychology has shown that when two people meet, they become more like each other. They imitate each others' accent, speech rate and syntax; they look at the same things and use the same words; they adopt similar postures, gesture alike and gently sway together. This behavioural coordination studied in social psychology seems to produce feelings of liking and affiliation between pairs of people. Similarly, when small groups of people interact, and move together, they also feel closer to each other and are more likely to cooperate.
We will use dance as a means to study how moving together is linked to liking each other. Similarly, observing other people move together may produce aesthetic pleasure because it showcases successful social interactions. Our research aims to provide novel insights into the role that dance and the performing arts fulfill in modern society. In a set of experiments, we will test this hypothesis by inviting groups of people (non-dancers) to participate in "dance workshop" experiments that teach moving in synchrony. Rather than asking participants to just "do the same", we will work with professional dancers and choreographers to apply principles from dance and choreography to examine different ways of moving together. Following these workshops, we will assess cooperation, sympathy and liking between participants of the workshop and members of the audience. Performers and audience members will be equipped with small motion sensors and we will also record their electrical brain activity. This will allow us to link different ways of moving in synchrony (or asynchrony) to brain activity, cooperation and liking. In a follow-up functional neuroimaging experiment we will link aesthetic pleasure derived from observing collective human movement to specific brain mechanisms.
We will also explore clinical applications of our research project. For example the perception of human movement is impaired in patients with autism. Training to move in synchrony might help to improve such deficits in recognizing other people's actions because it requires to carefully monitor how movements are performed. Similarly, increasing awareness of an action by moving in synchrony may boost memory for an already performed action. In obsessive-compulsive disorder compulsive checking involves a vicious circle in which more checking paradoxically leads to less confidence in memory and impairs attention. Increasing action awareness through "over performing" obsessive actions or moving in synchrony with others could thus reduce obsessive behaviours such as washing by making it easier to remember that the action was performed already.
In summary our research project combines expertise in dance, social psychology and neuroscience (a) to study how cooperation can result form simply moving together, (b) to understand aesthetic appreciation of dance and the performing arts, and (c) to develop new treatments for psychological disorders. Further, our research will provide new insights into the role that the performing arts fulfill in society and may also yield commercial applications for the creative industries.</p>

同步运动是舞蹈和音乐表演中普遍存在的特征。关于这些文化实践进化起源的大量研究，聚焦于人类为何参与表演而非观看或聆听舞蹈与音乐。本研究表明，表演者群体间的运动同步性可预测现场舞蹈表演的审美评价。我们基于摆臂、行走和跑步设计了一套明确的动作词汇，开发出能持续调控群体同步性的编舞方案。该编舞向四组观众进行了现场表演，期间我们持续追踪表演者的动作及观众的情感反应。通过对腕部加速度计数据的交叉递归分析（cross recurrence analysis），我们计算了表演者间的动态同步性；同时，通过观众心率获取了唤醒水平的内隐指标。<p>在所有文化中，人类都会跳舞。然而，关于舞蹈及表演艺术在社会中所扮演的功能，以及为何《舞动奇迹》（Strictly Come Dancing）等电视节目广受欢迎，我们知之甚少。我们提出，舞蹈及观看舞蹈的吸引力部分源于其能促进并传递人与人之间的成功协作。社会心理学研究显示，当两人相遇时，他们会变得愈发相似：模仿对方的口音、语速和句法；关注相同事物，使用相同词汇；采取相似姿势，做出相似手势，并轻轻同步摇摆。社会心理学中研究的这种行为协调，似乎能在两人间产生喜爱与亲近感。类似地，当小群体成员互动并同步运动时，他们也会感到彼此更亲近，且更倾向于合作。<p>我们将以舞蹈为手段，研究同步运动如何与彼此喜爱产生关联。同样，观察他人同步运动可能带来审美愉悦，因为这展示了成功的社会互动。本研究旨在为舞蹈及表演艺术在现代社会中的角色提供新见解。在一系列实验中，我们将邀请非舞者群体参与“舞蹈工作坊”实验，教授同步运动。我们并非仅要求参与者“做相同动作”，而是与专业舞者和编舞家合作，运用舞蹈和编舞原理来检验不同的同步运动方式。工作坊结束后，我们将评估参与者与观众成员间的协作、共情与喜爱程度。表演者和观众将佩戴小型运动传感器，我们还将记录他们的脑电活动。这使我们能够将不同的同步（或异步）运动方式与脑活动、协作及喜爱程度关联起来。在后续的功能性神经成像实验中，我们将把观察集体人类运动所产生的审美愉悦与特定脑机制联系起来。<p>我们还将探索本研究项目的临床应用。例如，自闭症患者对人类运动的感知存在障碍。同步运动训练可能有助于改善这种识别他人动作的缺陷，因为它要求仔细监测动作的执行方式。同样，通过同步运动提高对动作的意识，可能增强对已执行动作的记忆。在强迫症中，强迫性检查形成了一种恶性循环：检查越多，反而对记忆的信心越低，注意力越受损。通过“过度执行”强迫动作或与他人同步运动来提高动作意识，可能通过让患者更容易记住动作已完成，从而减少洗手等强迫行为。<p>综上，本研究项目结合了舞蹈、社会心理学和神经科学领域的专业知识，旨在（a）研究单纯同步运动如何促进协作；（b）理解舞蹈及表演艺术的审美评价；（c）开发心理障碍的新治疗方法。此外，我们的研究将为表演艺术在社会中的角色提供新见解，并可能为创意产业带来商业应用。