(Mis)align: A Simple Dynamic Framework for Modeling Interpersonal Coordination

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple computational framework to model interpersonal coordination, capturing both synchrony and complementarity, and demonstrating its ability to predict behaviors and replicate patterns observed in human interactions.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel dynamic framework that incorporates task context to model and simulate interpersonal behavioral coordination over time.

Findings

Task constraints predict agent behaviors effectively.

Framework reproduces patterns observed in human interaction data.

Initial simulations support the model's robustness.

Abstract

As people coordinate in daily interactions, they engage in different patterns of behavior to achieve successful outcomes. This includes both synchrony - the temporal coordination of the same behaviors at the same time - and complementarity - the coordination of the same or different behaviors that may occur at different relative times. Using computational methods, we develop a simple framework to describe the interpersonal dynamics of behavioral synchrony and complementarity over time, and explore their task dependence. A key feature of this framework is the inclusion of a task context that mediates interactions, and consists of active, inactive, and inhibitory constraints on communication. Initial simulation results show that these task constraints can be a robust predictor of simulated agents' behaviors over time. We also show that the framework can reproduce some general patterns observed in human interaction data. We describe preliminary theoretical implications from these results, and relate them to broader proposals of synergistic self-organization in communication.