Interpersonal synchrony, or the temporal alignment of behaviors between communicators, forms a basis for social bonding in humans. Synchrony is a phenomenon that people can evidently see and feel on a Gestalt level, but the phenomenon itself is intricate. Several qualities of a dyadic interaction can modify its manifestation and effects, including complexity, entrainment, periodicity, and intentionality of the synchronous interaction. To date, it is unclear which of these qualities drive perceptions of synchrony and its corresponding effects. The lack of attention to synchrony's components results in a potential over-generalization of the concept, which is compounded by a surplus of measurement techniques. As an initial attempt to address these concerns, the current study centers on a specific type of synchrony (complex, reciprocal, repetitive, and purposeful), its correlation with perceived synchrony, and its relationship to a previously identified social outcome variable: outgroup trust. Using full-body motion capture of dyadic partners performing a Tai-Chi routine, three-dimensional movement data were collected and several objective synchrony measures were applied. Then, by overlaying neutral computer avatars onto the motion data, stimulus videos showcasing dyads' movements were created for an online survey. One-hundred fifteen participants judged synchrony and the leader/follower relationship in the videos. These perception ratings provided a comparison for convergent validity with objective measures. Findings suggested that most objective measures significantly correlated with perceived synchrony, though to different magnitudes. No measures correlated with outgroup trust directly, but when comparing ingroup to outgroup dyads, synchrony correlated with outgroup trust positively for ingroup participants and negatively for outgroup participants. Results indicate that for a complex, reciprocal, repetitive, and purposeful type of synchrony, several measures of synchrony relate to perceptions. More spontaneous/irregular forms of synchrony may require more selectivity in measurement.
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