Entrainment and Rhythm

The notion of entrainment refers to how two clocks become synchronized when their pendulums swing differently. Eventually they will interlock and move at exactly the same time. That is Nature. So there is something in the forces that actually ends up synchronizing.

Objects synchronize when they move and so do human beings, however, human synchronization is not the same as that of the swinging pendulums. Gill describes an experiment by Himberg, at the Center for Music and Science, in which two people are asked to tap to a metronome and the results show that within a short period of time, they were synchronized with each other, although they both expressed their satisfaction about having been able to tap to the metronome. Human rhythm is not asynchronous, and the differences in our rhythmic pulse pulls us to each other and it is not operating at a conscious level. We have no idea that we are actually doing this; it’s really quite amazing. The time we are aware is when it is uncomfortable, when it is unexpected, and then it becomes conscious. Rhythm operating at the unconscious level is very hard to resist. In music research we talk about resistance to entrainment. It is rather like trying to pull away from the flow of a river. You’re pulled by it and you’re trying ‘No, no, no, no, no...!’. It’s very difficult.

Rhythm is the flow of interaction. It is a very basic coordination that is taking place at a totally unconscious level. If you’re comfortable with the way you’re walking with someone, the way you’re talking with someone, the chances are that you will be able to work well with that person. This means that whatever other actions you do take with this other person, or with the others, will be sustainable. They will be something that’s workable. It’s set on good foundations because there is a good feeling. So feeling good with others, I think, is also rooted in this notion of how rhythm and flow are working.