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BEHAVIORAL AND NEURAL CORRELATES OF INTERPERSONAL MOTOR COORDINATION: A HYPERSCANNING-EEG STUDY IN MILITARY PERSONNEL

Poster Session D - Monday, March 31, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Nicolas Bourguignon¹, Nicolas Coucke², Salvatore Lo Bue³, Emilie Caspar⁴; ¹Royal Military Academy of Belgium (1,3), ²Ghent University (2,4)

Many military activities require precise interpersonal motor coordination for safe and efficient task performance. Synchronized sharpshooting or so-called ‘Vic’ formations in military flights illustrate the requirement for skillful motor synchronization. A relevant question is whether military selection and training enhances cooperation skills in soldiers compared to civilians and what the neural mechanisms are that underlie interpersonal motor coordination? We addressed these issues by comparing performance in twenty pairs of military subjects and twenty-four pairs of age- and education-matched civilian controls in a computer-based patrolling task while their EEG was simultaneously recorded (hyperscanning EEG). Subject pairs were required to navigate obstacle courses on their own (SOLO condition) or by synchronizing their motor actions (TEAM condition). Trials in the TEAM condition where subjects failed to synchronize had to be started over until completion. Synchronization performance, computed as the average number times PAIR trials had to be restarted before completion, was significantly higher in military compared to civilian subjects, indicating superior motor coordination abilities. Analyses of hyperscanning EEG data revealed that this higher performance in military subjects coincided with higher interbrain synchrony in the alpha-mu frequency band in the right centro-parietal cortex – an effect identified in previous studies as reflecting situations of social interactions. This difference was particularly marked when one pair member had to inhibit his/her own motor actions in order to let their partners take the initiative. Besides replicating neural indices of motor synchronicity, these results help elucidate the relevance of social mechanisms involved in activities requiring teamwork and solidarity.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Other