Modeling Individual Differences in Temporal Adaptation, Anticipation, and Attention Allocation during Rhythmic Interpersonal Coordination

Abstract Rhythmic interpersonal coordination during group music-making requires individuals to adapt, anticipate, and attend to each other’s action timing. These ‘ensemble skills’ display marked individual differences despite being grounded in fundamental sensory-motor and cognitive processes. The current study investigated these individual differences by applying the ADaptation and Anticipation Model (ADAM) of sensorimotor synchronization to data from a joint drumming task requiring paired participants to synchronize under conditions of varying regularity (constant vs variable tempo) and leadership instructions (leader assigned vs not assigned). We thus tested how temporal adaptation (reactive error correction), anticipation (temporal prediction), and attention allocation (to information about ‘self’ and ‘other’ timing) are modulated by task goals and strategies, in addition to personality traits. Results indicated that dyadic synchrony was lower for variable tempi than constant tempi independently of leadership assignment. ADAM parameter estimation revealed that, at steady tempi, dyadic synchrony increased with increasing pair-composite estimates of mutual anticipation, self-other integration, and asymmetries in adaptation and anticipation (i.e., complementary high and low values across pair members). With tempo changes, synchrony decreased with mutual adaptation and increased with asymmetrical anticipation when leader-follower roles were assigned, and increased with asymmetries in anticipation when leadership was not assigned. Personality traits of locus of control and empathic perspective-taking had interactive effects with ADAM parameter estimates on synchrony. Furthermore, locus of control was linked specifically to self-other integration while perspective-taking was associated with temporal prediction. Overall findings provide evidence for a gradient of sensory-motor to social-cognitive ensemble skills that enable complex real-time interpersonal coordination.