Motor synchrony, social learning and closeness in group play settings

Nguyen, T, Tunçgenç, B ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1135-1004, Marsh, L, Markova, G, Horn, L, Pointner, N, Schleihauf, H and Hoehl, S, 2025. Motor synchrony, social learning and closeness in group play settings. Frontiers in Psychology, 16: 1595908. ISSN 1664-1078

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Abstract

Introduction: Playful activities provide critical opportunities for rhythmic interactions, which may affect social and cognitive development in early childhood. Prior research suggests that motor synchrony promotes closeness and prosocial behaviour, but few studies have examined its role in social learning and in group settings.

Method: This study investigated whether motor synchrony in a clapping game, enhances preschoolers' closeness with others, imitation, over-imitation, and sharing behaviour. In a group setting, motor synchrony and asynchrony were experimentally induced between the child and two experimenters. We hypothesized that children would feel closer, imitate more, and share more with an adult partner who moved in synchrony compared to one who moved asynchronously.

Results: Bayesian analyses revealed no credible evidence that the children affiliated, imitated, over-imitated, or shared differently with their synchronous vs. asynchronous partner (BF10 = 0.045–0.216). Manipulation checks indicated that although the adults adhered to the stimuli, there was overall low motor synchrony.

Discussion: These findings highlight the challenges of inducing motor synchrony in playful group settings and raise questions about the level of synchrony necessary to impact social affiliation and learning in young children.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Frontiers in Psychology
Creators:	Nguyen, T., Tunçgenç, B., Marsh, L., Markova, G., Horn, L., Pointner, N., Schleihauf, H. and Hoehl, S.
Publisher:	Frontiers Media SA
Date:	2025
Volume:	16
ISSN:	1664-1078
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1595908 DOI 2594717 Other
Rights:	© 2025 Nguyen, Tunçgenç, Marsh, Markova, Horn, Pointner, Schleihauf and Hoehl. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	19 Mar 2026 10:15
Last Modified:	19 Mar 2026 10:15
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/55446

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