What is the 'synchronization of human behavior' that 16 violinists have seen playing at the same time?



When humans act with others, sometimes their actions are synchronized with others.
One example of this is when everyone is clapping their palms apart when clapping at a concert venue, but the sounds of the clapping are occasionally synchronized and united. In addition, it is said that even

chimpanzees close to humans have been observed to synchronize their movements. In order to investigate the synchrony of such human behavior, an experiment was conducted in which multiple violin players were made to play the violin at the same time.

Synchronization of complex human networks | Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17540-7


Frustrated? Human patterns of synchronization may be the reason --study --The Jerusalem Post
https://www.jpost.com/health-science/human-networking-ability-whats-the-secret-638305


Synchronized violin players reveal uniqueness of human networks | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/synchronized-violin-players-reveal-uniqueness-of-human-networks/


Research on 'synchronization of human behavior' has been conducted so far, and research on 'bridge mechanics' is drawing attention. For example, when a bridge begins to sway, one instinctively adjusts its stride length to match the sway of the bridge. However, if you try to walk while adjusting the stride length, even smaller rolling will occur, and the shaking of the bridge will be amplified. In other words, the positive feedback that the shaking is amplified occurs in a loop.

At the opening event of the Millennium Bridge , which actually opened in London, England in June 2000, thousands of people who crossed the bridge unknowingly synchronized with the small shaking of the bridge, resulting in the load of walking. In some cases, the bridges were not dispersed but became periodic, and the bridge shook violently, leading to temporary closure.



This synchronization of human behavior is also found in investor behavior in financial markets, a study published in 2011 reported. The study points out that the more often investors exchange information online in a day, the less likely they are to lose that day, and investor synchronism is within the complex system of financial markets. It suggests that it helps to avoid risk.

Moti Fridman, a physicist at Bar-Ilan University , who is studying the synchronization of such behavior, collaborated with Erad Schneiderman, a music graduate student at Stony Brook University , New York State University , on the violin. We conducted an experiment on tuning the performance.

The 16 performers who participated in the experiment wore headphones with noise canceling function and played an electric violin connected to a computer. The headphones worn by the performer could only hear each other's violin sounds flowing through the computer, and the performer repeatedly played short phrases, relying on the sounds of others' violins.



In addition, the research team operated on a computer to deliberately delay the sound of another person's violin and observe how to synchronize it. When a delay occurs, the performer becomes 'frustrated' because there is a gap between the performance played through the headphones and his / her own performance.

As a result of the analysis, when one's performance is out of sync with others and frustration accumulates, the performer tries to improve the synchronization with the performer who is playing with him by increasing or decreasing the tempo of the performance. I found out that I did.



You can see the actual performance of the two performers with a delay in the sound from around 2 minutes and 13 seconds in the following movie. When the two performers feel a discrepancy between the sound they are listening to and their performance, they seek to synchronize their performance while delaying the tempo of their performance.

Sync Variations Documentary on Vimeo


'In frustration, the performer chooses one of the input signals and tries to tune in to it,' Fridman said in a statement from the noise of a crowded room. It is said that it is a phenomenon similar to the ' cocktail party effect ' that tries to listen to the conversation of the other party .

According to the research team, by capturing a model of human behavior more accurately, it can be expected to be applied, for example, to better control people and prevent the spread of false information under the epidemic of the new coronavirus. .. 'Our findings are also highly relevant to networks where each node has decision-making capabilities, such as the introduction of AI into self-driving cars and highly networked societies,' said Fridman. We can predict such network systems with high accuracy. '

in Science,   Video, Posted by log1i_yk