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Synchronous and anti-phase drumming elicit similar prosocial behavior ratings
Sean McWeeny1,2, Adam C Luoma1, Yaseen Al-Saleem1
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Frontiers in Cognition
|June 24, 2026
Summary
Anti-phase drumming coordination enhances prosociality, increasing trust and cooperation similarly to in-phase coordination. This finding highlights the importance of synchronized movement in fostering social bonds.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Music Cognition
Background:
- Music performance is known to boost prosociality across cultures.
- The link between prosociality and sensorimotor synchronization (SMS) is established, mainly for in-phase synchrony.
- Anti-phase coordination, common in music, involves high coordination and attention, making its effect on prosociality an important research question.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether anti-phase synchronization is as effective as in-phase synchronization in promoting prosocial behavior.
- To compare the effects of in-phase and anti-phase drumming coordination on trust, cooperation, affect, and similarity.
Main Methods:
- Fifty dyads participated in a drumming sensorimotor synchronization-continuation task (SCT) in either alone, in-phase, or anti-phase conditions.
- Trust was assessed using a behavioral economics game before and after the drumming task.
- Questionnaires measured trust, cooperation, affect, and similarity post-task.
Main Results:
- Cooperation rates in the trust game remained high and unchanged across conditions.
- Both in-phase and anti-phase drumming significantly increased perceived affect, trust, similarity, and cooperation compared to the alone condition.
- There was moderate evidence that in-phase and anti-phase coordination did not differ in their effects on these prosocial ratings.
Conclusions:
- Anti-phase drumming coordination is as effective as in-phase coordination in enhancing prosocial outcomes.
- These findings suggest that the specific phase relationship in synchronized activities may not be critical for eliciting prosocial behavior.
- Future research will explore other drumming coordination characteristics' impact on prosociality.
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