Coordination, Communication, and Commitment in Joint Action

Human life is full of joint actions, from moving a heavy object together to making music. Investigating how people coordinate their actions, why they sometimes fail, and how acting together affects their relationships is important for understanding our social nature. This symposium will address three questions about joint action that concern both mechanisms and consequences of acting together. First, what are the cognitive and neural processes that allow people to coordinate their actions on a fine-grained temporal scale? Second, what is the role of communication in the context of nonverbal coordination tasks, and how do different task demands shape communication? Third, how can we characterize the sense of commitment that typically comes with performing joint actions? Addressing these questions may also contribute to a better understanding of the similarities and differences in the social abilities of humans and other animals.