Symmetry building and symmetry breaking in synchronized movement

Abstract

Mirror symmetry between individuals is a behavioral phenomenon that is commonly observed in conversation: individuals tend to mimic each other’s postures and gestures as a part of a shared dialog. The present work studies the process of symmetry building and symmetry breaking in the movements of pairs of individuals while imitating each others’ movements in dance. Spatial and temporal symmetries are found in the overall velocities from the results of full body motion tracking. This work was supported in part by NIA grant R29 AG14983-01 and a grant from the University of Notre Dame. We wish to thank Elizabeth Marsh who assisted in gathering these data. Corresponding author: Steven M. Boker, Department of Psychology, The University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame Indiana 46556, USA; [email protected]; http://www.nd.edu/ sboker. SYMMETRY IN SYNCHRONIZED MOVEMENT 2