title: Oxytocin improves synchronisation in leader-follower interaction.
abstract: The neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to affect social interaction. Meanwhile, the underlying mechanism remains highly debated. Using an interpersonal finger-tapping paradigm, we investigated whether oxytocin affects the ability to synchronise with and adapt to the behaviour of others. Dyads received either oxytocin or a non-active placebo, intranasally. We show that in conditions where one dyad-member was tapping to another unresponsive dyad-member - i.e. one was following another who was leading/self-pacing - dyads given oxytocin were more synchronised than dyads given placebo. However, there was no effect when following a regular metronome or when both tappers were mutually adapting to each other. Furthermore, relative to their self-paced tapping partners, oxytocin followers were less variable than placebo followers. Our data suggests that oxytocin improves synchronisation to an unresponsive partner's behaviour through a reduction in tapping-variability. Hence, oxytocin may facilitate social interaction by enhancing sensorimotor predictions supporting interpersonal synchronisation. The study thus provides novel perspectives on how neurobiological processes relate to socio-psychological behaviour and contributes to the growing evidence that synchronisation and prediction are central to social cognition.
authors.affiliation: Center for Music in the Brain, Dept. of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University &The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.|Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Denmark.|Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gebauer
authors.affiliation: Center for Music in the Brain, Dept. of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University &The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: M A G
authors.initials: MAG
authors.lastname: Witek
authors.affiliation: Center for Music in the Brain, Dept. of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University &The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.|School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark.
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Section for Cognitive Systems, Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Konvalinka
authors.affiliation: Center for Music in the Brain, Dept. of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University &The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vuust
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin