Human social interactions often involve carefully synchronized behaviours. Musical performance in particular features precise timing and depends on the differentiation and coordination of musical/social roles. Here, we study the influence of musical/social roles, individual musicians and different ensembles on rhythmic synchronization in Malian drum ensemble music, which features synchronization accuracy near the limits of human performance. We analysed 72 recordings of the same piece performed by four trios, in which two drummers in each trio systematically switched roles (lead versus accompaniment). Musical role, rather than individual or group differences, is the main factor influencing synchronization accuracy. Using linear causal modelling, we found a consistent pattern of bi-directional couplings between players, in which the direction and strength of rhythmic adaptation is asymmetrically distributed across musical roles. This differs from notions of musical leadership, which assume that ensemble synchronization relies predominantly on a single dominant personality and/or musical role. We then ran simulations that varied the direction and strength of sensorimotor coupling and found that the coupling pattern used by the Malian musicians affords nearly optimal synchronization. More broadly, our study showcases the importance of ecologically valid and culturally diverse studies of human behaviour.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology’.

人类社会互动通常涉及精心同步的行为。音乐表演尤其具有精确的时间安排，并取决于音乐/社会角色的分化和协调。在这里，我们研究了音乐/社会角色、个体音乐家和不同合奏对马里鼓合奏音乐节奏同步的影响，其特点是同步精度接近人类表演的极限。我们分析了由四个三重奏组演奏的同一首作品的 72 条录音，其中每个三重奏组中的两名鼓手系统地转换角色（领唱与伴奏）。音乐作用，而不是个体或群体差异，是影响同步精度的主要因素。使用线性因果模型，我们发现玩家之间存在一致的双向耦合模式，其中节奏适应的方向和强度在音乐角色之间不对称分布。这与音乐领导的概念不同，后者假设合奏同步主要依赖于单一的主导人格和/或音乐角色。然后，我们进行了改变感觉运动耦合方向和强度的模拟，发现马里音乐家使用的耦合模式提供了近乎最佳的同步。更广泛地说，我们的研究展示了对人类行为进行生态有效和文化多样化研究的重要性。然后，我们进行了改变感觉运动耦合方向和强度的模拟，发现马里音乐家使用的耦合模式提供了近乎最佳的同步。更广泛地说，我们的研究展示了对人类行为进行生态有效和文化多样化研究的重要性。然后，我们进行了改变感觉运动耦合方向和强度的模拟，发现马里音乐家使用的耦合模式提供了近乎最佳的同步。更广泛地说，我们的研究展示了对人类行为进行生态有效和文化多样化研究的重要性。

这篇文章是主题问题“同步与节奏交互：从大脑到行为生态学”的一部分。