Interpersonal Synchrony During a Client-Therapist Role-Play Interaction: The Role of Modalities, Facets, and Relational Context.
- 1Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
- 2Department of Computational Cognitive Science, Tilburg University, Tilburg, the Netherlands.
Abstract
Interpersonal synchrony (IS), the temporal coordination between individuals during interaction, is a complex phenomenon that manifests across different modalities (e.g., behavioral and physiological) and coordination facets (e.g., strength and flexibility). In psychotherapy, IS is increasingly considered a potential embodied marker of the client-therapist relationship. However, little is known about how relational context shapes IS coordination patterns, or how they relate to perceived relationship quality. This study aimed to identify IS coordination patterns associated with two relational contexts (emotion-focused vs. solution-focused conversations) and to examine how these patterns relate to subjective perceptions of the client-therapist relationship. 168 psychology students (84 dyads) participated in two consecutive 13-min client-therapist role-play conversations with different goals: exploring emotions (emotion-focused) and brainstorming solutions (solution-focused). Windowed Cross-Lagged Correlation was used to quantify IS from upper-body movement (using Motion Energy Analysis), high-frequency heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity (average and slope). For each modality, six IS facets were extracted, representing three facet families: strength, flexibility, and leading-following dynamics. IS was above chance level across all modalities and facets in both conditions (ds ≈0.26-1.09). Although the context manipulation was effective at a subjective level, no condition differences in IS were observed after correction for multiple testing. Analyses accounting for dyads' interaction history (i.e., sequence of conditions) revealed context-dependent effects in two modalities: movement strength and EDASlope leading-following dominance. Both modalities were also related with the perceived emotional bond, but not with perceived collaboration, and these associations varied as a function of relational context. These findings suggest that contextual factors, including conversation goals and dyadic history shape coordination dynamics. Implications for modality and facet selection, and context manipulation in IS research are discussed.
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BibTeX
@article{yassen2026interpersonal,
title = {{Interpersonal Synchrony During a Client-Therapist Role-Play Interaction: The Role of Modalities, Facets, and Relational Context.}},
author = {Noha M Yassen and Jacobien M van Peer and Ger P J Keijsers and Leentje Vervoort and Travis J Wiltshire},
journal = {Psychophysiology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1111/psyp.70436},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42968214},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Interpersonal Synchrony During a Client-Therapist Role-Play Interaction: The Role of Modalities, Facets, and Relational Context.
AU - Noha M Yassen
AU - Jacobien M van Peer
AU - Ger P J Keijsers
AU - Leentje Vervoort
AU - Travis J Wiltshire
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/01
JO - Psychophysiology
DO - 10.1111/psyp.70436
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42968214
AB - Interpersonal synchrony (IS), the temporal coordination between individuals during interaction, is a complex phenomenon that manifests across different modalities (e.g., behavioral and physiological) and coordination facets (e.g., strength and flexibility). In psychotherapy, IS is increasingly considered a potential embodied marker of the client-therapist relationship. However, little is known about how relational context shapes IS coordination patterns, or how they relate to perceived relationship quality. This study aimed to identify IS coordination patterns associated with two relational contexts (emotion-focused vs. solution-focused conversations) and to examine how these patterns relate to subjective perceptions of the client-therapist relationship. 168 psychology students (84 dyads) participated in two consecutive 13-min client-therapist role-play conversations with different goals: exploring emotions (emotion-focused) and brainstorming solutions (solution-focused). Windowed Cross-Lagged Correlation was used to quantify IS from upper-body movement (using Motion Energy Analysis), high-frequency heart rate variability, and electrodermal activity (average and slope). For each modality, six IS facets were extracted, representing three facet families: strength, flexibility, and leading-following dynamics. IS was above chance level across all modalities and facets in both conditions (ds ≈0.26-1.09). Although the context manipulation was effective at a subjective level, no condition differences in IS were observed after correction for multiple testing. Analyses accounting for dyads' interaction history (i.e., sequence of conditions) revealed context-dependent effects in two modalities: movement strength and EDASlope leading-following dominance. Both modalities were also related with the perceived emotional bond, but not with perceived collaboration, and these associations varied as a function of relational context. These findings suggest that contextual factors, including conversation goals and dyadic history shape coordination dynamics. Implications for modality and facet selection, and context manipulation in IS research are discussed.
SN - 0048-5772
SN - 1540-5958
SN - 1469-8986
ER -