Social contingency modulates the perceived distance between self and other

Fading boundaries between the physical and the social world: Insights and novel techniques from the intersection of these two fields

This review focuses on the subtle interactions between sensory input and social cognition in visual perception. We suggest that body indices, such as gait and posture, can mediate such interactions. Recent trends in cognitive research are trying to overcome approaches that define perception as stimulus-centered and are pointing toward a more embodied agent-dependent perspective. According to this view, perception is a constructive process in which sensory inputs and motivational systems contribute to building an image of the external world. A key notion emerging from new theories on perception is that the body plays a critical role in shaping our perception. Depending on our arm's length, height and capacity of movement, we create our own image of the world based on a continuous compromise between sensory inputs and expected behavior. We use our bodies as natural "rulers" to measure both the physical and the social world around us. We point out the necessity of an integrative approach in cognitive research that takes into account the interplay between social and perceptual dimensions. To this end, we review long-established and novel techniques aimed at measuring bodily states and movements, and their perception, with the assumption that only by combining the study of visual perception and social cognition can we deepen our understanding of both fields.

Seeing synchrony: A replication of the effects of task-irrelevant social information on perceptions of interpersonal coordination

The display of synchronous behaviour can be both an engaging spectacle and a source of important social information. When understood as a dynamical system, interpersonal synchrony has specific kinematic qualities that have been shown to shape social perceptions. Little research, however, has examined the converse relationship - are perceptions of the kinematics of interpersonal synchrony influenced by socially relevant, but task-irrelevant, information? To provide further insight to this question we conducted a pre-registered replication of Lumsden, Miles, and Macrae (2012). Participants (n = 191) rated the level of coordination present in dyads made up of individuals with either similar or dissimilar skin tones. Faithful to the original study, the results indicated that perceivers were sensitive to differing levels of interpersonal coordination, and judged dissimilar dyads to be less coordinated than dyads with a similar skin tone despite actual coordination levels being objectively equivalent. Extending Lumsden et al., the results also revealed a negative relationship between subclinical variation in social anxiety and the degree of perceived coordination. This work is discussed with respect to the perceptual and social factors that underlie judgements of interpersonal coordination.