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#ASKDRTAN: Dr Tan Answers Your Questions Pt. 1

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The Doctor is in! Dr Tan answers your #ASKDRTAN questions!

Hey, We’re in Sync!

Great questions via Twitter and Facebook! They made me think more deeply about these videos. If your questions weren’t chosen for today’s response, it doesn’t mean they weren’t valuable. And they’re still in the running for a prize at the end of the week!

On the first day of #ASKDRTAN week, many focused on the look the twins exchanged as soon as the music started, and their seemingly matching (synchronous) movements.

@zooeats and @teobesta were struck by how the infants look at each other as soon as the music begins in the first and third videos. @Allison_M_Bloom asked whether the twins are mimicking each other, and @savannahhhas was puzzled by how they might be forecasting what the other was about to do “even before it happens”, leading @kelseydonk and her friend Olivia to view their movements as having a “choreographed quality”.

These observations are all related! What you are witnessing is what sibling researcher and psychologist Dr. Judy Dunn calls “coaction”. Dunn observed that siblings often engage in episodes in which they seem to be “doing things together at the same time” – in other words, matching each others’ actions simultaneously. For instance, two siblings may be sitting in high chairs, and one begins to bang on the tray table – and quickly the other begins to hit their table too – and swiftly they match each others’ rhythms – and begin to giggle. This is “coaction”. Looking and glancing at each other frequently is an important part of this social coordination, which is actually one of the earliest forms of play with a partner.

You can observe “coaction” especially clearly in the third video (35 months):

0:11: Looking at each other
0:16: Right twin clasps hands; 0:18 Left twin clasps hands
0:20: Left twin copies swishing motions with hands, then clapping
After “go” at 0:25, movements become more individualized (with some imitation at 0:40 of pointing).

Before each of these, the girls look at each other (except for at 0:40 when gaze is not met, and nor is coaction fully activated)

So yes, Alison is right that they are imitating each other. And yes, Savannah, at times they may even be “forecasting” movements – by reading each other for short spurts as they’re familiar with this piece of music and have likely responded with similar actions before. This “choreographed quality” that Kelsey and Olivia observed may come partly from their responses to the way the music choreographs their actions (a subject of an upcoming post…!). But the other aspect is a sort of “social choreography” that is patterned by the two of them, matching actions to each other. While Dunn’s research focused mainly on siblings, one can imagine that coaction might be even stronger in twins.

One characteristic feature observed by Dunn is that “coaction” seems to trigger great glee! She describes “the special pleasure and excitement expressed by siblings when they engage in ‘coaction sequences’ together” (Dunn, 1983, p. 792). This utter glee and delight during coaction is clearly shown in our “dancing twins.”

More about the role of the music, twin behavior - and many more connections to the videos - coming in the full commentary to be posted soon after #ASKDRTAN week ends. In the meantime, please keep your questions coming! The viral videos and instructions for how to submit questions are here.

– Dr Siu-Lan Tan

Sources

Dunn, J. (1983). Sibling relationships in early childhood. Child Development, 54, 787-811

About Dr Tan

Dr. Siu-Lan Tan is first author of a leading text entitled Psychology of Music: From Sound to Significance, and has published research in numerous journals. She is a senior Professor of Psychology at Kalamazoo College, where she teaches courses in Psychology of Music and Child Development.

Read More #ASKDRTAN Parts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

© 2014 Siu-Lan Tan


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