Piloting vibration induction for synchrony in urban cycling

To reduce stress in traffic situations, we investigate a possible strategy to support bike swarms by inducing interpersonal synchrony, currently a very popular construct. Synchrony may coordinate movements, reduce stress, and increase the feeling of safety during cycling in a group. Synchrony is a promising construct, but its induction in multisensory situations has not been tested. To induce synchrony in multisensory situations like the street traffic, we use tactile feedback in the form of vibrations, the influence of which has not yet been researched. To this end, we simulated a real traffic scenario in the laboratory. We explored to what extent nonintrusive vibrations can be distinctly perceived when competing with audiovisual input from street traffic, without constituting a distractor from street traffic. In the long term we want to explore possibilities of measuring and inducing synchronous leg movements in bike swarms on demand. This involves detecting the need for synchrony, for instance due to stress and lack of synchrony and prompt cyclists to follow vibration rhythms, in order to induce perceived emotional synchrony with the other group members. We present our conceptual work and technological development towards inducing synchrony through social wearables, and results from a first pilot study.