title: Synchronization as a biological, psychological and social mechanism to create common time: A theoretical frame and a single case study.
abstract: Synchronizing neural processes, mental activities, and social interactions is considered to be fundamental for the creation of temporal order on the personal and interpersonal level. Several different types of synchronization are distinguished, and for each of them examples are given: self-organized synchronizations on the neural level giving rise to pre-semantically defined time windows of some tens of milliseconds and of approximately 3 s; time windows that are created by synchronizing different neural representations, as for instance in aesthetic appreciations or moral judgments; and synchronization of biological rhythms with geophysical cycles, like the circadian clock with the 24-hr rhythm of day and night. For the latter type of synchronization, an experiment is described that shows the importance of social interactions for sharing or avoiding common time. In a group study with four subjects being completely isolated together for 3 weeks from the external world, social interactions resulted both in intra- and interindividual circadian synchronization and desynchronization. A unique phenomenon in circadian regulation is described, the "beat phenomenon," which has been made visible by the interaction of two circadian rhythms with different frequencies in one body. The separation of the two physiological rhythms was the consequence of social interactions, that is, by the desire of a subject to share and to escape common time during different phases of the long-term experiment. The theoretical arguments on synchronization are summarized with the general statement: "Nothing in cognitive science makes sense except in the light of time windows." The hypothesis is forwarded that time windows that express discrete timing mechanisms in behavioral control and on the level of conscious experiences are the necessary bases to create cognitive order, and it is suggested that time windows are implemented by neural oscillations in different frequency domains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.|Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Parmenides Center for Art and Science, Pullach, Germany.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.|Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Parmenides Center for Art and Science, Pullach, Germany.|Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ernst
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pöppel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lingyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoxiong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Parmenides Center for Art and Science, Pullach, Germany.
authors.forename: Taoxi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Department of Psychiatry, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany.|Nuclear Medicine, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany.|TUM-Neuroimaging Center, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Mihai
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Avram
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Radiology Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Janusch
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blautzik
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Radiology Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paolini
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Parmenides Center for Art and Science, Pullach, Germany.
authors.forename: Sarita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Silveira
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Parmenides Center for Art and Science, Pullach, Germany.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vedder
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.|Institute of Medical Psychology and Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.|Parmenides Center for Art and Science, Pullach, Germany.|National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic.|Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.|Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Yuliya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zaytseva
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception
keywords: beat phenomenon; circadian rhythm; desynchronization; discrete time; social interaction; synchronization; time window