Synchrony and exertion during dance independently raise pain threshold and encourage social bonding

Group dancing is a ubiquitous human activity that involves exertive synchronized movement to music. It is hypothesized to play a role in social bonding, potentially via the release of endorphins, which are analgesic and reward-inducing, and have been implicated in primate social bonding. We used a 2 × 2 experimental design to examine effects of exertion and synchrony on bonding. Both demonstrated significant independent positive effects on pain threshold (a proxy for endorphin activation) and in-group bonding. This suggests that dance which involves both exertive and synchronized movement may be an effective group bonding activity.

• Publication year

  2015

• Venue

  Biology Letters

• Publication date

  2015-10-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2015.0767PMID 26510676PMCID 4650190
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Music and social bonding: “self-other” merging and neurohormonal mechanisms

  2014cited by this paper
• Does synchrony promote generalized prosociality?

  2014cited by this paper
• The effect of different phases of synchrony on pain threshold.

  2014influential reference
• The effect of behavioral synchrony in groups of teammates and strangers

  2013influential reference
• Synchronization can influence trust following virtual interaction.

  2013cited by this paper
• Let’s Dance Together: Synchrony, Shared Intentionality and Cooperation

  2013cited by this paper
• The pain of social disconnection: examining the shared neural underpinnings of physical and social pain

  2012cited by this paper
• Performance of Music Elevates Pain Threshold and Positive Affect: Implications for the Evolutionary Function of Music

  2012cited by this paper
• Mechanisms and consequences of widespread random monoallelic expression

  2012cited by this paper
• Journal of Experimental Psychology : General Rocking to the Beat : Effects of Music and Partner ' s Movements on Spontaneous Interpersonal Coordination

  2011cited by this paper
• Synchrony and the social tuning of compassion.

  2011cited by this paper
• The brain opioid theory of social attachment: a review of the evidence

  2011cited by this paper
• Basal opioid receptor binding is associated with differences in sensory perception in healthy human subjects: A [18F]diprenorphine PET study

  2010cited by this paper
• Joint music making promotes prosocial behavior in 4-year-old children☆☆☆

  2010cited by this paper
• Rowers' high: behavioural synchrony is correlated with elevated pain thresholds

  2010cited by this paper
• The social role of touch in humans and primates: behavioural function and neurobiological mechanisms.

  2010cited by this paper
• Synchrony and Cooperation

  2009cited by this paper
• It's all in the timing: Interpersonal synchrony increases affiliation

  2009influential reference
• Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy

  2008cited by this paper
• The runner's high: opioidergic mechanisms in the human brain.

  2008cited by this paper
• A neurobehavioral model of affiliative bonding: implications for conceptualizing a human trait of affiliation.

  2005cited by this paper
• Endocannabinoids and exercise

  2004cited by this paper
• Shared representations between self and other: a social cognitive neuroscience view.

  2003cited by this paper
• A neurobiological role of music in social bonding

  2000cited by this paper
• β-endorphin (1-31) in the plasma of male volunteers undergoing physical exercise

  2000cited by this paper
• Inclusion of Other in the Self Scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness

  1992cited by this paper
• The Pair-Formation Displays of the Western Grebe

  1982cited by this paper

• In sync through laughter? An fNIRS hyperscanning study on neural synchrony and social connection

  2026cites this paper
• On the origins and consequences of natural play and performing arts practices

  2026cites this paper
• Aesthetic judgment of apparent motion: effects of movement smoothness, synchrony, and shape

  2026cites this paper
• Physical activity and depressive symptoms among college students: positive mental health as a mediator

  2026cites this paper
• The Relation Between DJs Behavior and Their Audience's Positive Affect and Perception of the Show. A Field Study in Electronic Dance Music Clubs

  2025cites this paper
• Shared flow and emotional synchrony through group instrumental improvisation: a feasibility study of music-based social connection

  2025cites this paper
• Effects of physical activity on college students’ interpersonal competence: chain-mediated effects of self-control and prosocial interpersonal emotional management

  2025cites this paper
• Music’s ability to foster prosocial behavior: a teleofunctionalist perspective

  2025cites this paper
• Allied male dolphins use synchronous displays to strengthen social bonds in a cooperative context

  2025cites this paper
• Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Brazilian Portuguese Version of the Goldsmiths Dance Sophistication Index (Gold-DSI)

  2025cites this paper
• Measuring partner synchrony during salsa dancing and its relationship to changes in psychosocial domains

  2025cites this paper
• Attenuated behavioral interpersonal synchrony in autistic adults is not explained by perception of timing

  2025influential citation
• Dance and Stress Regulation: A Multidisciplinary Narrative Review.

  2025cites this paper
• Interpersonal Synchrony and Affiliation in Children: A Transdiagnostic Approach

  2025cites this paper
• Cognitive benefits of music in aerobic exercise: Evidence from a Bayesian network meta-analysis in adults with mild cognitive impairment.

  2025cites this paper
• Impact of group dancing during Japanese festivals on people’s sense of community

  2025cites this paper
• The impact of audience avatar movements on presence in virtual live events

  2025cites this paper
• Why friendship and loneliness affect our health

  2025cites this paper
• Distinct social dynamics of joint action represented by interpersonal neural coupling in congruent and incongruent joint musical performances

  2025cites this paper
• Music as a social instrument: a brief historical and conceptual perspective

  2025cites this paper
• Effects on plasma oxytocin and dopamine levels through a five-minute audiovisual stimulus of Greek Syrtaki: An intervention-control primary care study.

  2025cites this paper
• Healing synchrony? potential benefits of interpersonal synchrony for chronic pain management

  2025cites this paper
• Interventions Through Music and Interpersonal Synchrony That Enhance Prosocial Behavior: A Systematic Review

  2025cites this paper
• The effects of indoor acoustic and visual environments on the mental health of older adults: a systematic review

  2025cites this paper
• Dyadic differences in empathy scores are associated with kinematic similarity during conversational question–answer pairs

  2025cites this paper
• Group rehabilitation in Parkinson’s disease: A case study combining music and physiotherapy

  2025cites this paper
• Exploring movement entrainment in an ecologically valid concert setting

  2025cites this paper
• An enculturation-induced joy bias for emotion recognition in full-body-movement

  2025cites this paper
• AI as intermediary in modern-day ritual: An immersive, interactive production of the roller disco musical Xanadu at UCLA

  2025cites this paper
• Research on the impact of dance training on the mental health of college students

  2024cites this paper
• Experiencing Athenian pasts on Delos: Resource depletion, embodied cognition, and synchronized arousal in the geranos dance

  2024cites this paper
• Analgesic effect of dance movement therapy: An fNIRS study

  2024cites this paper
• Acoustic Processing and the Origin of Human Vocal Communication

  2024cites this paper
• Jazz Dance on Menopausal Symptoms and Psychological Aspects: A Randomized Clinical Trial Pilot Study With Follow-Up

  2024cites this paper
• Syncing online: A methodological investigation into movement synchrony, proxemics, and self-other blurring in virtual spaces

  2024cites this paper
• Benefits of an online group dance program for adolescents' social bonding and wellbeing

  2024cites this paper
• Prototyping Playful Touch with a Sound-Mediating Table

  2024cites this paper
• Mirror game as a tool to influence interpersonal spontaneous behavior after performance

  2024cites this paper
• The Evolution of Gender Dimorphism in the Human Voice

  2024cites this paper
• How and Why People Synchronize: An Integrated Perspective

  2024cites this paper
• Aligned bodies, united hearts: embodied emotional dynamics of an Islamic ritual

  2024cites this paper
• Intergenerational Synchrony and Its Effect on Bonding and Group Closeness among Young and Older Adults

  2024cites this paper
• Long-term music instruction is partially associated with the development of socioemotional skills

  2024cites this paper
• Understanding Entrainment in Human Groups: Optimising Human-Robot Collaboration from Lessons Learned during Human-Human Collaboration

  2024cites this paper
• Music Listening as Kangaroo Mother Care: From Skin-to-Skin Contact to Being Touched by the Music

  2024cites this paper
• Revisiting dance therapy training with Marian Chace: 50 years on

  2024cites this paper
• Unleashing potential: Boosting physical activity in children with developmental disabilities via a family-dog-assisted intervention

  2024cites this paper
• The effects of a culturally informed community-based dance movement therapy programme for persons with Parkinson’s disease in India

  2024cites this paper
• Unfolding into each other: Examining the effects of capoeira with specifically anti-racist, social justice-oriented instruction on students’ empathy

  2024cites this paper
• Emotional contagion in a collective ritual

  2024cites this paper
• Endogenous Opioids and Volunteering: On the Evolutionary Significance of Helping Others.

  2024cites this paper
• The psychophysiology of music-based interventions and the experience of pain

  2024cites this paper
• Painting in coordination is perceived as a positive interpersonal interaction

  2023cites this paper
• Коомдук саламаттыкты сактоонун өзгөчө кырдаалдарга даярдыгы боюнча жергиликтүү жамааттарды тартуунун этикалык негиздери .

  2023cites this paper
• Beyond simultaneity: Temporal interdependence of behavior is key to affiliative effects of interpersonal synchrony in children.

  2023cites this paper
• Only empathy-related traits, not being mimicked or endorphin release, influence social closeness and prosocial behavior

  2023cites this paper
• Syncing to perform? A naturalistic uncontrolled prospective case study of emotional and physiological synchrony in a team of male volleyball athletes

  2023cites this paper
• A review of psychological and neuroscientific research on musical groove.

  2023cites this paper
• “It doesn’t feel like exercise”: a realist process evaluation of factors that support long-term attendance at dance classes designed for healthy ageing

  2023cites this paper
• A Shared Intentionality Account of Uniquely Human Social Bonding

  2023cites this paper
• Group dance, social cohesion, and social identity in the Yali society from Papua

  2023cites this paper
• The origins and function of musical performance

  2023cites this paper
• The music we march to: Beyond beat, floating intentionality and improvisation: A comment on "Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability" by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch.

  2023cites this paper
• Theory of collective mind.

  2023cites this paper
• A social path to human-like artificial intelligence

  2023cites this paper
• The Neuroscience of Dance: A Conceptual Framework and Systematic Review.

  2023cites this paper
• Turning Heads on the Dance Floor: Synchrony and Social Interaction Using a Silent Disco Paradigm

  2023cites this paper
• Dance Is a Healing Art

  2023cites this paper
• “Maybe it’s Not Just the Food?” A Food and Mood Focus Group Study

  2023cites this paper
• Behavioural synchronization and social referencing of dogs and humans: walking in dyad vs in group

  2023cites this paper
• Interfaces of Dialogue: A Mixed Methods Approach to Investigating Intersubjectivity in Dyadic Improvisations

  2023cites this paper
• Feeling Connected: The Role of Haptic Feedback in VR Concerts and the Impact of Haptic Music Players on the Music Listening Experience

  2023cites this paper
• Virtual (Zoom) Interactions Alter Behavioral Cooperation, Neural Activation, and Dyadic Neural Coherence

  2023cites this paper
• Virtual (Zoom) Interactions Alter Conversational Behavior and Interbrain Coherence

  2023influential citation
• Musical interaction in music therapy for depression treatment

  2022cites this paper
• Joy: An integrative theory

  2022cites this paper
• Observed shyness leads to more automatic imitation in early childhood.

  2022cites this paper
• Neurobiology of Loneliness, Isolation, and Loss: Integrating Human and Animal Perspectives

  2022cites this paper
• Evidence for top‐down metre perception in infancy as shown by primed neural responses to an ambiguous rhythm

  2022cites this paper
• Endogenous oxytocin, cortisol, and testosterone in response to group singing

  2022cites this paper
• Can Dance and Music Make the Transition to a Sustainable Society More Feasible?

  2022cites this paper
• The intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of interpersonal synchrony.

  2022cites this paper
• Interdependence, bonding and support are associated with improved mental wellbeing following an outdoor team challenge

  2022cites this paper
• Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability.

  2022cites this paper
• The Emergence of Habitual Ochre Use in Africa and its Significance for The Development of Ritual Behavior During The Middle Stone Age

  2022cites this paper
• Classroom-Integrated Movement and Music Interventions and Children’s Ability to Recognize Social Interaction Based on Body Motion

  2022cites this paper
• Bending and bonding: a randomized controlled trial on the socio-psychobiological effects of spiritual versus secular yoga practice on social bonding

  2022cites this paper
• Managing the stresses of group-living in the transition to village life

  2022cites this paper
• Laughter and its role in the evolution of human social bonding

  2022cites this paper
• Elements of musical and dance sophistication predict musical groove perception

  2022cites this paper
• Synchrony During Online Encounters Affects Social Affiliation and Theory of Mind but Not Empathy

  2022cites this paper
• Positive emotions foster spontaneous synchronisation in a group movement improvisation task

  2022cites this paper
• Dirigentenunseres Handelns – Hormone

  2022cites this paper
• Families as small-community quarantine pods of sociomusical engagement

  2022cites this paper
• Dance for Chronic Pain Conditions: A Systematic Review

  2022cites this paper
• The sweet spot between predictability and surprise: musical groove in brain, body, and social interactions

  2022cites this paper
• The Components of Interpersonal Synchrony in the Typical Population and in Autism: A Conceptual Analysis

  2022influential citation
• Sweet Participation: The Evolution of Music as an Interactive Technology

  2022cites this paper
• Awe as a Pathway to Mental and Physical Health

  2022cites this paper
• Promoting prosociality in Colombia: Is music more effective than other cultural interventions?

  2021cites this paper