Author: Anna Zamm

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

"The current dissertation investigates behavioural and neural factors associated with successful interpersonal synchrony: individuals' temporal coordination of joint actions. On a behavioural level, this dissertation tests the hypothesis from dynamical systems that interpersonal synchrony is a function of the difference in partners' natural frequencies, which are measured by the rate at which partners independently perform spontaneous actions. On a neural level, this dissertation tests the hypothesis that interpersonal synchrony is associated with partners' cortical entrainment to the frequency of their joint action, based on previous work showing that synchronization of actions with external temporal stimuli is associated with cortical entrainment to the stimulus frequency. These hypotheses are investigated in the context of temporal coordination between performing musicians, using wireless electroencephalography (EEG). Chapter 2 describes a behavioural study which shows that musicians matched for natural frequencies of solo music performance show enhanced interpersonal synchrony of duet music performance relative to musicians mismatched for natural frequencies. Chapter 3 describes a study which reveals that natural frequencies represent an optimally stable mode of temporal coordination relative to other frequencies, suggesting a mechanism for the influence of natural frequencies on interpersonal synchrony. Chapter 4 describes a novel method for using wireless EEG to capture the neural correlates of musicians' performances at their natural frequencies. Chapter 5 implements this method in a neural study of duet music performance which shows that interpersonal synchrony between performing musicians is associated with partners' cortical entrainment to their frequency of tone onset production, and with inter-brain correspondences in amplitude fluctuations of cortical oscillations at this frequency. In sum, the current dissertation elucidates the behavioural and neural dynamics of interpersonal synchrony in music performance, ties together behavioural theories of interpersonal coordination dynamics with neural theories of the role of cortical entrainment in temporal coordination, and suggests future directions for research on interpersonal synchrony. " --