We often observe individuals expertly coordinating their bodily movements with other individuals around them. Whether crossing a road with a group of individuals at a cross-walk, moving a table and chairs with friends or family, or shaking hands with a colleague, individuals frequently perform social behavioral coordination in a robust and flexible manner, with seemingly little or no effort. A central question in the study of joint action and social coordination concerns how the observed movements of other individuals and objects in the environment influence the production of one’s own actions. I argue that the dynamic patterns of coordination that exist between produced and observed movements naturally arise from holistic interactions between the neural, biomechanical, and perceptual subsystems of the agents and the agents’ environment. My research broadly focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of the different dynamics that arise when people work together, rather than alone, to complete tasks in varying situations.

 

Specifically, our research has focused on the interpersonal coordination (mostly bodily, but also verbal) that arises between agents while performing different tasks. The way we study these phenomena is anchored in the dynamical systems and ecological psychology theoretical perspectives with a particular focus on agent-environment systems, thus going beyond the level of individuals. Our empirical approach involves recording agents’ actions over time using a variety of behavioral measurement techniques (e.g., video, motion capture systems) and using linear as well as nonlinear time series analysis methods (e.g., recurrence quantification analysis, fractal and multifractal analyses) to better understand the observable phenomena. This work, in general, has demonstrated that co-acting individuals can become temporarily organized to form acting systems, and that therefore we should study behaviors happening in social situations at the level of the co-acting system, rather than only focusing on the individuals separately.