This review examines interpersonal coordination and synchrony across neural, behavioral, and physiological domains, mapping interaction types and measurement methods across timescales from milliseconds to minutes, and linking these to real-world outcomes like learning and development.
The paper provides a novel cross-timescale framework that integrates candidate mechanisms of neural and behavioral synchrony, arguing that timescale is a critical but underappreciated variable in interpreting the functional significance of interpersonal coordination.
As a narrative review, it does not conduct original data analysis or meta-analysis; causal claims about coordination mechanisms remain speculative given the heterogeneity of existing studies.
Clinicians and educators working with social or developmental disorders should consider that coordination measures (e.g., neural synchrony, behavioral timing) may have very different meanings depending on the timescale at which they are assessed. Interpreting synchrony findings without accounting for timescale risks drawing misleading conclusions about social function.
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