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Animals
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Synchronisation and Contagion of Movement and Action in Human and Non-human...
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Synchronisation and Contagion of Movement and Action in Human and Non-human Animals

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Human-Animal Interactions, Animal Behaviour and Emotion".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2022) | Viewed by 6352

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Florence Gaunet

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, CNRS, Université Aix-Marseille, Federation 3C, 13331 Marseille, France
Interests: dog; pets; humans; motor resonnance; social cognition; communication
Dr. Charlotte Duranton

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ethodog, Research in Dog-Human Relationship in Ethology and Literature, Maisons-Laffitte, France
Interests: dog behavior; dog-human interaction; dog cognition; dog welfare; dog-human communication

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Social behaviors are partly driven by behavioral synchronization/mimicry/interpersonal motor alignment for dyads and can lead to collective movements at group levels. Many species are concerned, and such behaviors—and their underlying cognitive processes—can occur both within and between species. They are adaptive, with clear beneficial issues, such as decreasing predation pressure, allowing better care of offspring, and increasing social cohesion between interacting partners.

How recruitment of one or more partners operates is still unclear. Several hypotheses have been suggested, including automatic imitation, or temporal processing for detecting the timing of events and their rhythmic properties, and motor resonance/contagion, i.e., a direct link between the perception of an action and its execution (e.g., mirror neurons system). Is there any effect of ontogeny or of experience on mimicry? How did such behaviors and cognitive mechanisms evolve, and are there any differences between species? In which cases is such perception–action coupling between individuals conscious or not?

Original manuscripts that address any aspects of synchronization and contagion of movement and action in human and nonhuman animals are invited in this Special Issue, both at behavioral and cognitive process levels. Topics of special interest are behavioral synchronization/mimicry, all collective movements, social referencing, effect of leadership, effect of familiarity/affiliation/closeness/attraction, effect of the nature or size of the stimulus/model, developmental or evolutionary issues, cognitive mechanisms at play, clarification of related concepts, evaluation of the power/importance of such mechanisms, beneficial and detrimental outcomes, all this at dyadic and group levels, in laboratory or field setup, for any species. How such processes can be implemented for behavioral changes both in human and nonhuman animals (food diet, mental or motor diseases, low carbon and pro-environmental behaviors, etc.) is also of interest, as is social influence thought various media (e.g., rhythm, actual observation, video, or imagination for people). Any gesture or social behavior can be targeted, such as feeding habits, tool use, play, walk, sports, mania, fashion, commercial behaviors (selling/buying), to any good or mistreatment of animals or people.

Dr. Florence Gaunet
Dr. Charlotte Duranton
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • behavioral synchronization
  • mimicry
  • interpersonal motor alignment
  • motor contagion
  • leadership
  • affiliation
  • social cognition
  • social influence
  • development
  • phylogeny

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1422 KiB  
Article
One- and Two-Month-Old Dog Puppies Exhibit Behavioural Synchronization with Humans Independently of Familiarity
by Charlotte Duranton, Cécile Courby-Betremieux and Florence Gaunet
Animals 2022, 12(23), 3356; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233356 - 29 Nov 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1351
Abstract
Behavioural synchronization is a widespread skill in social species as it helps increase group cohesion among individuals. Such a phenomenon is involved in social interactions between conspecifics as well as between individuals from different species. Most importantly, familiarity and affiliation between interacting partners [...] Read more.
Behavioural synchronization is a widespread skill in social species as it helps increase group cohesion among individuals. Such a phenomenon is involved in social interactions between conspecifics as well as between individuals from different species. Most importantly, familiarity and affiliation between interacting partners influence the degree of behavioural synchronization they would exhibit with each other. For example, in human–dog dyads, the more a dog is affiliated with its human partner, the more it behaves in a synchronous way with them. However, little is known about the ontogeny of such a behaviour, especially from an interspecific perspective. The aim of the present study was thus to investigate the existence and modalities of activity synchrony, a type of behavioural synchronization, between humans and puppies. To do so, we observed 29 dog puppies interacting with two different humans (familiar and unfamiliar experimenters). Puppy movements and general activity in relation to the human ones were observed. Results evidenced that puppies did exhibit locomotor synchrony with humans, but familiarity did not affect its degree. It is the first time that activity synchrony with human walk is evidenced in puppies, highly suggesting that dogs’ ability to behave in synchronization with humans seems to be genetically selected through the process of domestication, while the effect of familiarity on it might develop later during the individual ontogeny. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synchronisation and Contagion of Movement and Action in Human and Non-human Animals)
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12 pages, 1349 KiB  
Article
“Emotional Proximity” and “Spatial Proximity”: Higher Relationship Quality and Nearer Distance Both Strengthen Scratch Contagion in Tibetan Macaques
by Yu-Heng Zhang, Xi Wang, Meng-Meng Chen, Yi-Mei Tai and Jin-Hua Li
Animals 2022, 12(16), 2151; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12162151 - 22 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1753
Abstract
Behavioral contagion has been defined as a phenomenon in which an unlearned behavior automatically triggers a similar behavior in others. Previous studies showed that a behavioral contagion might have the function of strengthening social relationships, promoting group coordination and maintaining social cohesion. However, [...] Read more.
Behavioral contagion has been defined as a phenomenon in which an unlearned behavior automatically triggers a similar behavior in others. Previous studies showed that a behavioral contagion might have the function of strengthening social relationships, promoting group coordination and maintaining social cohesion. However, so far, there are few studies investigating the correlation between contagious scratching and social bonding. Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) live in multi-male and multi-female cohesive matrilineal groups, and scratching is usually observed in their affiliated interactions. We investigated the process of scratch contagion in one group of free-ranging Tibetan macaques and explored whether behavioral contagion could consolidate social relationships and maintain social stability. Results showed that the scratching was contagious and correlated with relationship quality and spatial distance. In dyads with a higher Dyadic Composite Sociality Index (DSI), the contagion was strong. In addition, contagions occurred more frequently and faster among individuals nearer to each other. In terms of social groups, members with higher social centrality participated in more behavioral contagion, whether as expressers or observers. Our findings provide new perspectives for studying behavioral contagions in humans and animals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synchronisation and Contagion of Movement and Action in Human and Non-human Animals)
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11 pages, 1506 KiB  
Article
Individual Variation in the Use of Acoustic Signals to Coordinate Group Movements among Tibetan Macaques (Macaca thibetana)
by Meng-Meng Chen, Yu-Heng Zhang, Yi-Mei Tai and Xi Wang
Animals 2022, 12(16), 2149; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12162149 - 22 Aug 2022
Viewed by 2309
Abstract
To maintain group cohesion, social animals need to coordinate their actions during group movements. Several species use vocalizations to communicate with each other during coordination. However, the process of vocal communication and its influence in collective decision making is not clear. We studied [...] Read more.
To maintain group cohesion, social animals need to coordinate their actions during group movements. Several species use vocalizations to communicate with each other during coordination. However, the process of vocal communication and its influence in collective decision making is not clear. We studied a group of free-range Tibetan macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Huangshan, China, and recorded acoustic signals during their group movements. It was found that three kinds of sounds were used in their movements. Group movements with vocalizations recruited more participants than the movements without sound. Moreover, during group departures, individuals in the front emitted a higher frequency of vocalization than individuals in the rear. Sex and social centrality both had a significant influence on vocalizations. Social centrality indicates the degree of proximity relations between two individuals in a social network. Females and individuals with high social centrality emitted more sound in group movements. However, social rank and the number of relatives did not affect the emission of sound. These results suggest that the function of calls in collective movements relates to coordinating group movements. This study provides an insight into the association of acoustic communication with collective decision making. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synchronisation and Contagion of Movement and Action in Human and Non-human Animals)
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