Synchronized movement experience enhances peer cooperation in preschool children

• We devised an apparatus that delivered synchronized movement to child peers.
• Children were assigned to one of 3 groups: synchrony, asynchrony, baseline.
• Synchrony experience led to enhanced peer cooperation.
• Effect may be mediated by increased intention communication induced by synchrony.

Cooperating with other people is a key achievement in child development and is essential for human culture. We examined whether we could induce 4-year-old children to increase their cooperation with an unfamiliar peer by providing the peers with synchronized motion experience prior to the tasks. Children were randomly assigned to independent treatment and control groups. The treatment of synchronous motion caused children to enhance their cooperation, as measured by the speed of joint task completion, compared with control groups that underwent asynchronous motion or no motion at all. Further analysis suggested that synchronization experience increased intentional communication between peer partners, resulting in increased coordination and cooperation.