How do we synchronise the timing of our movements?

 

 

 In many scenarios we must time our movements with another person, or even synchronise as a group. This type of activity is particularly relevant to music and dance - e.g. a musician in an orchestra must keep time with the rest of his colleagues, whilst at the same time they are also adjusting their own timings. How is synchrony achieved in such a complexly linked task? We are producing detailed timing models of multiperson synchronisation  by analysing timing statistics of movements by individuals to either real or virtual partners.

 

 

 When making timed movements we must respond to, or in anticipation of, events occuring within our surrounding environment. The information is processed by our senses - for example sound, vision and touch, which we combine to define an event in time. In this area of research we examine how the brain processes timing information across different senses and in particular, how these sources are combined to into a single stream of events to which we time our movements. Using mathematical models to describe this integration of sensory cues, we have shown that the brain combines sensory information in an optimal way to get a best estimate of the event times. This results in more accurately timed actions compared to when events are presented in a single sense. The outcomes from the research have potential implications for improving  rehabilitation aids for neurological diseases where movement ability must be retrained over time.

Find out more:
http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/events/togetherness-sixth-sense
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm/2010/06/music_is_filling_our_office.shtml

 

 Nodding your head or tapping a foot to a song is something we often do without thinking about. On the other hand, we know that even simple distractions can interfere with the timing of actions. We are examining the role of attention and movement timing in terms of the complexity of the timing task itself and the complexity of the secondary task done at the same time. For example, producing regular repetitive movements may require little attentional resource. However, if we have to continuously correct movements due to perturbations in the events we want to synchronise with, does this demand greater resources or lead to more errors on a second task?