Author ORCID Identifier

Dotov https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5543-360X

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-20-2019

Abstract

People walking side by side spontaneously synchronize their steps on some occasions but not on others, which poses a challenge to theories of perception-action based on interactive dynamic systems. How can action be spontaneously entrained by some sources of perceptual information while others are selectively ignored? The predictive processing framework suggests that saliency factors such as stimulus predictability, consistent deviation, and interactivity of the stimulus control the coupling between the motor system and perceptual information. To test this, we compared entrainment of gait cadence by two interactive auditory stimuli and two noninteractive but predictable, faster than preferred stimuli that were isochronous or statistically matched to gait. One interactive stimulus had properties that are optimal for mutual entrainment as per a mathematical model of interactive periodic processes, the Kuramoto system. In particular, the stimulus was faster than the participant but also adapted its rate to a limited degree as function of phase mismatch with the participant’s steps. The second interactive stimulus fully mirrored the gait cycle hence it did not induce mutual synchronization. Furthermore, healthy participants were compared to ones with impaired gait due to Parkinson’s disease, a model disorder that makes movement more dependent on external cueing. The mutually interactive condition produced the strongest entrainment, in patients and healthy participants, without differences between groups. The stimulus adapted to each participant’s gait while maintaining a consistent lead in phase. Auditory-motor coupling may be enhanced by stimuli that are not only predictable but also interactive in that they align to self-generated movements.

Comments

©American Psychological Association, [Year]. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in the APA journal. The final article is available, upon publication, at: https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000609

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000609

Journal Title

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Volume

148

Issue

6

First Page

1041

Last Page

1057

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