Behavior Matching in Multimodal Communication Is Synchronized

TLDR

Theoretical frameworks predict that communicators exhibit coordinated, mimicked, or aligned behaviors, yet the timing of such behavior matching remains poorly understood despite evidence of oscillatory motion synchronization. This study investigated the temporal structure of non‑oscillatory actions—language, facial, and gestural—during a route‑communication task. The authors focused on the temporal relationship between matching behaviors in interlocutors, such as facial actions in one participant versus the same actions in the other. Cross‑recurrence analysis revealed that language, facial, and gestural behaviors were synchronized with short temporal lags enabling turn‑to‑turn imitation, and that social and cognitive variables predicted the degree of this organization, indicating that the temporal structure of matching behaviors supplies low‑level, low‑cost resources for interaction.

Abstract

Abstract A variety of theoretical frameworks predict the resemblance of behaviors between two people engaged in communication, in the form of coordination, mimicry, or alignment. However, little is known about the time course of the behavior matching, even though there is evidence that dyads synchronize oscillatory motions (e.g., postural sway). This study examined the temporal structure of nonoscillatory actions—language, facial, and gestural behaviors—produced during a route communication task. The focus was the temporal relationship between matching behaviors in the interlocutors (e.g., facial behavior in one interlocutor vs. the same facial behavior in the other interlocutor). Cross‐recurrence analysis revealed that within each category tested (language, facial, gestural), interlocutors synchronized matching behaviors, at temporal lags short enough to provide imitation of one interlocutor by the other, from one conversational turn to the next. Both social and cognitive variables predicted the degree of temporal organization. These findings suggest that the temporal structure of matching behaviors provides low‐level and low‐cost resources for human interaction.