Interactive Brains, Social Minds

In everyday life, people often need to coordinate their actions with each other. Common examples are walking with someone at a set pace, playing collective sports, dancing, playing music in a duet or group, as well as a wide range of social bonding behaviors, such as gaze coordination between mother and infant or between partners. Despite the undisputed developmental and social significance of these interpersonally coordinated behaviors, little, if anything, is known about their real-time dynamics and about the brain mechanisms that support them. This project investigates lifespan changes in behavioral and neuronal mechanisms that permit individuals to coordinate their behavior with each other in time and space.