Shared Rhythm to Shared Vision: Synchronous Marching increases Conformity on Perceptual Decision making

Abstract

Previous research on synchronous movement rituals have found that it increased prosocial propensity toward the synchronised group and reliance on the group opinions. However, whether basic cognitive processes such as perceptual decision-making are affected by synchronous movement remains unexplored. In this novel virtual reality experiment, we examined whether marching synchronously with a group can induce greater informational conformity on an unrelated perceptual task (forced choice random dot motion). We found higher degree of conformity following synchronised marching during low stimulus information. This finding indicates that synchronised movement induces minimal group membership expressed via increased self-other blurring and conformity. Thus, participation in movement-based rituals has the capacity to change our perception of the world to align more closely with the synchronised group.