TY - JOUR
T1 - The Moving Mandala: Exploring the Pro-Social Effects of Musical and Non-Musical Synchrony in Children in a Virtual World
AU - Cross, Liam
AU - Pares, Narcis
AU - Gali, Olga
AU - Ercan, Sena Beste
AU - Sayis, Batuhan
AU - Heaton, Pamela
AU - Atherton, Gray
PY - 2025/3/19
Y1 - 2025/3/19
N2 - Synchronous movement between individuals has been shown to increase pro-sociality, such as closeness and generosity. To date, synchrony research tests these effects using a variety of movement tasks, including musical and non-musical coordination. However, musical versus non-musical synchrony may have separable pro-social effects. To test this, we had 60 children immersed in an augmented reality space called the 'Moving Mandala' where they moved asynchronously with only visual cues, synchronously with only visual cues or synchronously with musical and visual cues. We then tested for differences in pro-social effects using sharing and proxemics tasks. Results showed that while the synchrony version of the mandala led to greater closeness in the proxemics task, the musical synchrony led to more pro-sociality on the sharing task. The implications of these findings are discussed.
AB - Synchronous movement between individuals has been shown to increase pro-sociality, such as closeness and generosity. To date, synchrony research tests these effects using a variety of movement tasks, including musical and non-musical coordination. However, musical versus non-musical synchrony may have separable pro-social effects. To test this, we had 60 children immersed in an augmented reality space called the 'Moving Mandala' where they moved asynchronously with only visual cues, synchronously with only visual cues or synchronously with musical and visual cues. We then tested for differences in pro-social effects using sharing and proxemics tasks. Results showed that while the synchrony version of the mandala led to greater closeness in the proxemics task, the musical synchrony led to more pro-sociality on the sharing task. The implications of these findings are discussed.
KW - coordination
KW - entrainment
KW - full-body interaction
KW - mixed reality
KW - pro-sociality
KW - synchrony
UR - https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe15030039
UR - https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/context/psy-research/article/2114/viewcontent/ejihpe_15_00039.pdf
U2 - 10.3390/ejihpe15030039
DO - 10.3390/ejihpe15030039
M3 - Article
C2 - 40136778
SN - 2174-8144
VL - 15
JO - European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education
JF - European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education
IS - 3
M1 - 39
ER -