Name:Jonathan Kirsh

School/Affiliation:McMaster University

Co-Authors:Sharanya Badalera, John Rehner Iversen

Virtual or In-person:In-person

Short Bio:

Jonathan is a second year Master's student in the Iversen lab, who focuses on interpersonal synchronization in group drumming environments. As an avid musician, Jonathan has always been interested in how individuals are able to perform as a collective. His thesis project uses a rhythm network paradigm that investigates the impact of reduced information conditions on group synchronization. Outside of the lab, he plays guitar and bass in the Toronto-based band, "Main Station", and is a marathon runner. He also co-runs a monthly open mic in the PNB department, as well as a psychology-themed Dungeons & Dragons campaign for other grad students.

Abstract:

Drum circles provide a rich context for investigating interpersonal coordination and group timing dynamics. In real-world drum circles all participants can generally hear each other, enhancing group-level cooperative synchrony as group size increases (Dotov et al., 2022, eLife). But how does group synchronization behave in uncooperative, or reduced-information situations? Previous work with delays has shown a U-shaped relationship between delay and synchrony in dyads, with moderate delays resulting in the highest synchrony (Koike et al., 2024). But the effects of other obstacles to synchrony are unknown, such as unidirectional information flow. In 5 drum circle sessions (N=35) we contrasted group synchronization using the following factors: topology (all-sync or ring-sync), delay (0ms, 120ms, or 240ms) and group size (duets, trios, quartets, or sextets). We hypothesize that the ring-sync condition will force each individual to rely on an imagined collective goal and reveal different capacities to manage frustration with a seemingly uncooperative partner. We found that synchrony falls linearly with delay; no U-shape observed (p<.001). Synchrony was also higher in all-sync compared to ring-sync trials (p<.001). After accounting for the sonic perspectives of each individual, our effects persisted, suggesting that this is not an artifact of measurement. Surprisingly, the destabilizing effect of delay increased across all group sizes, regardless of their topology. This flexible virtual ‘Rhythm Network’ paradigm offers possibilities to test models of group synchronization in extreme behavioral regimes and lays the foundation for future studies of inter-brain synchrony.