Synchrony and social connection in immersive Virtual Reality

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality

Background:

• Synchrony in joint action is known to foster positive social outcomes.
• Previous research often involves confounds like suggestion or shared intention.
• Generalizability of synchrony effects beyond traditional settings needs exploration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effects of movement synchrony on social closeness in an Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment.
• To eliminate confounds present in standard laboratory and field experiments.
• To assess the robustness of synchrony effects in a controlled virtual setting.

Main Methods:

• Participants engaged in a joint movement task with virtual humans in VR.
• Co-participant movement timings were covertly manipulated to create synchrony or non-synchrony.
• Social closeness was measured via self-report after the interaction.

Main Results:

• Participants in the synchrony condition reported significantly greater social closeness.
• Movement synchrony, not suggestion or shared intention, drove the increase in social closeness.
• The positive social effects of synchrony were confirmed within the VR environment.

Conclusions:

• Synchrony in joint action reliably enhances social closeness.
• Immersive VR is a viable environment for studying social synchrony effects.
• Findings support the development of VR interventions for social and psychological wellbeing.