Do trait and state empathy facilitate interpersonal synchrony in musical interactions?

Recent research suggests that cognitive empathy facilitates interpersonal synchrony, yet the role of affective empathy and its impact when experimentally induced remain less explored. We investigated how empathy, both as a trait characteristic and the result of induction, influences synchrony in a musical context. Thirty-three dyads completed two synchrony tasks, one before and one after an empathy induction session. In Task 1, participants tapped in time with a metronome before synchronising with their partner's tapping, whereas in Task 2, they synchronised melodic sequences. To induce empathy, participants shared personal events while their partners were instructed either to empathise (empathy induction) or memorise factual details (control condition). Trait empathy was measured using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Emotional engagement and behavioural mirroring during empathy induction were assessed using self-report and motion-capture measures. Results showed that both cognitive and affective trait empathy contributed to synchrony: higher Empathic Concern (an affective IRI subscale) predicted better alignment with a metronome in Task 1, while higher Fantasy (cognitive IRI) predicted greater synchrony in Task 2, suggesting that empathy's role may rely on the type of coordination required by the task. Induced empathy showed no main effects; however, high-Fantasy participants who reported greater emotional engagement with partners' stories synchronised better in Task 2 than those who engaged less. Moreover, high-Fantasy dyads showed greater mirroring of narrators' head movements in the control condition, whereas this association became weakly negative when empathy was induced. The findings indicate a multifaceted role of empathy in joint action, and future directions to fully understand this role are discussed.