Musical improvisation enhances interpersonal coordination in subsequent conversation: Motor and speech evidence

Abstract

This study explored the effects of musical improvisation between dyads of same-sex strangers on subsequent behavioural alignment. Participants–all non-musicians–conversed before and after either improvising music together (Musical Improvisation—MI—group) or doing a motoric non-rhythmic cooperative task (building a tower together using wooden blocks; the Hands-Busy—HB—group). Conversations were free, but initially guided by an adaptation of the Fast Friends Questionnaire for inducing talk among students who are strangers and meeting for the first time. Throughout, participants’ motion was recorded with an optical motion-capture system (Mocap) and analysed in terms of speed cross-correlations. Their conversations were also recorded on separate channels using headset microphones and were analysed in terms of the periodicity displayed by rhythmic peaks in the turn transitions across question and answer pairs (Q+A pairs). Compared with their first conversations, the MI group in the second conversations showed: (a) a very rapid, partially simultaneous anatomical coordination between 0 and 0.4 s; (b) delayed mirror motoric coordination between 0.8 and 1.5 s; and (c) a higher proportion of Periodic Q+A pairs. In contrast, the HB group’s motoric coordination changed slightly in timing but not in degree of coordination between the first and second conversations, and there was no significant change in the proportion of periodic Q+A pairs they produced. These results show a convergent effect of prior musical interaction on joint body movement and use of shared periodicity across speech turn-transitions in conversations, suggesting that interaction in music and speech may be mediated by common processes.

The varying social dynamics in orally transmitted and notated vs. improvised musical performance

“…While Nettl focused on the density of the pre-determined structural components alone, we wish to expand the density paradigm to include further aspects that relate to the social structures represented in the musical performance. Several studies have discussed the social nature of both notated (D'Ausilio et al, 2012;Keller et al, 2014) and improvised (Robledo et al, 2021) 10. 3389/fpsyg.2023.1106092 Frontiers in Psychology 09 frontiersin.org music-making.…”

“…While Nettl focused on the density of the pre-determined structural components alone, we wish to expand the density paradigm to include further aspects that relate to the social structures represented in the musical performance. Several studies have discussed the social nature of both notated ( D'Ausilio et al, 2012 ; Keller et al, 2014 ) and improvised ( Robledo et al, 2021 ) music-making. As a natural operationalization of human social coordination and interaction, the study of musical ensembles provides a powerful opportunity to delve into the foundations of such music-based social behavior ( Keller et al, 2014 ; D’Ausilio et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Thus, notated and orally transmitted music, compared to improvised music, for example, requires a high level of alignment between players, careful compliance with written notes and instructions, and a systematic level of playing that adheres to the composer’s intentions ( Thom, 2020 ). Given that musical performance can be considered as a complex form of social interaction ( D'Ausilio et al, 2012 ; Keller et al, 2014 ; Robledo et al, 2021 ), it stands to reason that performance styles should associate with congruent forms of social dynamics. In particular, we would like to propose that whether music performance is based more on notation and oral tradition or more on improvisation, may correspond to the degree of adherence to more general social norms displayed by the social dynamics incorporated within the music-making.…”

Sweet Participation: The Evolution of Music as an Interactive Technology

“…That said, the property which seems to distinguish music most consistently is the degree of temporal and tonal alignment between participants (Robledo et al, 2021). The focus of attention is not on some external object or some displaced event participants are trying to imagine together—it is on the participants’ rhythmic, gestural and vocal coordination.…”

Group singing is globally dominant and associated with social context

“…Music is an important interactive technology to form, strengthen, and maintain affiliative relationships [1][2][3]. It leverages the positive effect of behavioural alignment on attachment formation by making interactions more synchronized; specifically, by shaping vocalizations so that they can be more easily imitated, and through the elicitation of a beat to which participants can entrain [3][4][5][6][7]. Emphasizing the importance of interaction in music challenges the notion that it is primarily made for different forms of consumption, and instead suggests that many of its features evolved to encourage simultaneous participation in affiliative interactions involving multiple participants [6,8].…”