Negative Emotions Disrupt Intentional Synchronization During Group Sensorimotor Interaction

Abstract

Emotions play a fundamental role in human interactions and trigger responses in physiological, psychological, and behavioral modalities. Interpersonal coordination often entails attunement between individuals in various modalities. Previous research has elucidated the mechanisms of interpersonal synchronization and the emotions aroused by joint action: cardiac activity aligns in disputing marital couples, spectators share enjoyment in observing live dance performances, and joint finger-tapping evokes positive emotions. However, little is known about the impact of emotions on intentional interpersonal synchronization. To address this problem, we conducted an experiment in 2022 asking 60 participants to engage in a three-way finger-tapping synchronization task. We systematically induced emotional states (positive, neutral, and negative) with social comparison feedback using success–failure manipulations. An analysis of behavior synchronization using the Kuramoto order parameter revealed that negative emotion induction significantly diminished time spent in synchrony compared to positive induction. Moreover, the results exposed incremental struggles in attaining higher levels of synchronization (Q2–Q3) after the induction of negative emotions. These outcomes further substantiate the necessity of integrating the indices of agents’ emotions into interpersonal synchronization and coordination models. We discuss the implications of this work for research on interpersonal emotion in joint action and applied outcomes in emotion-aware technologies and interventions.