The Moving Mandala: Exploring the Pro-Social Effects of Musical and Non-Musical Synchrony in Children in a Virtual World

• Liam Cross ^[1] ; Narcis Pares ^[2] ; Olga Gali ^[2] ; Sena Beste Ercan ^[2] ; Batuhan Sayis ^[2] ; Pamela Heaton ^[3] ; Gray Atherton ^[1]
  1. [1] Plymouth University

     Plymouth University

     Reino Unido

     
  2. [2] Universitat Pompeu Fabra

     Universitat Pompeu Fabra

     Barcelona, España

     
  3. [3] Goldsmiths University

  Mostrar afiliaciones +
• Localización: EJIHPE: European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, ISSN 2174-8144, ISSN-e 2254-9625, Vol. 15, Nº. 3, 2025, págs. 39-39
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.3390/ejihpe15030039
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen

  • Synchronous movement between individuals has been shown to increase pro-sociality, such as closeness and generosity. To date, synchrony research tests these effects using a variety of movement tasks, including musical and non-musical coordination. However, musical versus non-musical synchrony may have separable pro-social effects. To test this, we had 60 children immersed in an augmented reality space called the ‘Moving Mandala’ where they moved asynchronously with only visual cues, synchronously with only visual cues or synchronously with musical and visual cues. We then tested for differences in pro-social effects using sharing and proxemics tasks. Results showed that while the synchrony version of the mandala led to greater closeness in the proxemics task, the musical synchrony led to more pro-sociality on the sharing task. The implications of these findings are discussed.

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Allen, R., & Heaton, P. (2010). Autism, music, and the therapeutic potential of music in alexithymia. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal,...
  • Amos, P. (2013). Rhythm and timing in autism: Learning to dance. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 7, 27.
  • Anshel, A., & Kipper, D. A. (1988). The influence of group singing on trust and cooperation. Journal of Music Therapy, 25(3), 145–155.
  • Atwood, S., Schachner, A., & Mehr, S. A. (2022). Expectancy effects threaten the inferential validity of synchrony-prosociality research. Open...
  • Cirelli, L. K. (2018). How interpersonal synchrony facilitates early pro-social behavior. Current Opinion in Psychology, 20, 35–39.
  • Cirelli, L. K., Wan, S. J., & Trainor, L. J. (2014). Fourteen-month-old infants use interpersonal synchrony as a cue to direct helpfulness. Philosophical...
  • Cross, L., Atherton, G., Wilson, A. D., & Golonka, S. (2017). steps: Mental simulation of coordinated rhythmic movements effects on pro-sociality....
  • Cross, L., Michael, J., Wilsdon, L., Henson, A., & Atherton, G. (2020). Still want to help? Interpersonal coordination’s effects on helping behaviour...
  • Cross, L., Turgeon, M., & Atherton, G. (2019a). How moving together binds us together: The social consequences of interpersonal entrainment...
  • Cross, L., Turgeon, M., & Atherton, G. (2019b). Moving with the in-crowd: Cooperation and interpersonal entrainment in in-vs. outgroups....
  • Cross, L., Wilson, A. D., & Golonka, S. (2016). How moving together brings us together: When coordinated rhythmic movement affects cooperation....
  • Crossey, B. P., Atherton, G., & Cross, L. (2021). Lost in the crowd: Imagining walking in synchrony with a crowd increases affiliation and...
  • Frith, U., & Frith, C. (2011). Reputation management: In autism, generosity is its own reward. Current Biology, 21(24), R994–R995.
  • Gebauer, L., Skewes, J., Westphael, G., Heaton, P., & Vuust, P. (2014). Intact brain processing of musical emotions in autism spectrum disorder,...
  • Goldman, A. I. (2006). Simulating minds: The philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience of mindreading. Oxford University Press. Heaton, P....
  • Hove, M. J., & Risen, J. L. (2009). It’s all in the timing: Interpersonal synchrony increases affiliation. Social Cognition, 27(6), 949–961.
  • Huron, D. (2008). Sweet anticipation: Music and the psychology of expectation. MIT press.
  • Isabella, R. A., & Belsky, J. (1991). Interactional synchrony and the origins of infant-mother attachment: A replication study. Child Development,...
  • Jones, S. C., Gordon, C. S., Akram, M., Murphy, N., & Sharkie, F. (2022). Inclusion, exclusion and isolation of autistic people: Community attitudes...
  • Keller, P. E., Novembre, G., & Hove, M. J. (2014). Rhythm in joint action: Psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms for real-time...
  • Kirschner, S., & Tomasello, M. (2010). Joint music making promotes pro-social behaviour in 4-year-old children. Evolution and Human Behaviour,...
  • Koban, L., Ramamoorthy, A., & Konvalinka, I. (2019). Why do we fall into sync with others? Interpersonal synchronisation and the brain’s...
  • Koehne, S., Hatri, A., Cacioppo, J. T., & Dziobek, I. (2016). Perceived interpersonal synchrony increases empathy: Insights from autism spectrum...
  • Levinson, J. (2006). Contemplating art: Essays in aesthetics. Clarendon Press.
  • Rabinowitch, T.-C., & Knafo-Noam, A. (2015). Synchronous rhythmic interaction enhances children’s perceived similarity and closeness towards...
  • Rabinowitch, T.-C., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2017). Synchronised movement experience enhances peer cooperation in preschool children. Journal...
  • Reddish, P. (2012). Why sing and dance? An examination of the cooperative effects of group synchrony [Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Victoria University...
  • Reddish, P., Fischer, R., & Bulbulia, J. (2013). Let’s dance together: Synchrony, shared intentionality and cooperation. PLoS ONE, 8(8),...
  • Repp, B. H., & Su, Y. H. (2013). Sensorimotor synchronization: A review of recent research (2006–2012). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20,...
  • Strogatz, S. (2003). Sync: The emerging science of spontaneous order. Penguin Books.
  • Tarr, B., Launay, J., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2014). Music and social bonding: “Self-Other” merging and neurohormonal mechanisms. Frontiers...
  • Tunçgenç, B., & Cohen, E. (2016). Movement synchrony forges social bonds across group divides. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 782.
  • Wiltermuth, S., & Heath, C. (2009). Synchrony and cooperation. Psychological Science, 20(1), 1–5.
  • Zentner, M., & Eerola, T. (2010). Rhythmic engagement with music in infancy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(13), 5768–5773.