Peta Mills

Research Student

Research Program: Music Cognition and Action

Thesis Title

Underlying Social, Cognitive and Neural Mechanisms of Coordinated Joint Action

Research Project

Being able to coordinate and synchronise behavior is important in many areas of human life, from shaking hands to moving furniture. This ability is essential to music and dance ensembles who coordinate movement timing with extreme temporal precision. This seemingly simple ability requires little apparent conscious effort yet involves collaboration between several sensory, motor, and social processes.

I am interested in the underlying mechanisms of these processes and how they interact to enable coordinated joint action. Two such processes that allow synchronisation are anticipatory and adaptive timing mechanisms. The former allows us to anticipate and predict upcoming movements of others, while the latter monitors and corrects any deviations in synchronous movement.

My thesis intends to further investigate the underlying social, cognitive and neural mechanisms of anticipatory and adaptive processes during joint action. To do this I am using a range of behavioural and neurological (EEG, TMS) methods.

Qualifications

2012 – B. Psychology (Hons), Western Sydney University, Australia

Roles

• Psychology Tutor
• MARCS Research Assistant

Contact Peta