Interpersonal coordination in communication: Effects of alignment in multiple modalities on objective and subjective task outcomes

Introduction: Previous research has shown that during interactions, partners adapt to (imitate, synchronize, complement) each other’s behavior: a phenomenon often termed interpersonal coordination. Approaches focusing on shared conceptual space suggested that the presence of synchronous or coordinated behaviors indicates the extent of conceptual alignment and thus, predicts communication success. Here we test this claim.Methods: Pairs of participants solved a computer-mediated communicative task involving verbal negotiation (“Bargaining Game”), while data of head motion, pupil size, and gaze direction were collected, and measures of prosody and structural speech characteristics were extracted from the recorded verbal interactions. Communication success and efficacy were assessed using objective task performance measures and subjective evaluations from the participants.Results: 1) interlocutors coordinated multiple aspects of their behavior, 2) objective measures of task performance were predicted by gaze pattern coordination, and 3) some forms of interpersonal coordination positively affected the participants’ subjective experience of their partner and the interaction.Discussion: The results indicate that interpersonal coordination between interlocutors is prevalent across multiple modalities and it facilitates some aspects of the interaction - although, a mechanistic role of interpersonal coordination in communication was not specifically supported by the data.