Soft entrainment: Co-emergence of “Maai” and entrainment by rhythm controller

To realize improvisational communication in indefinite conditions, sharing mutual positioning (relationships) ahead of time is important because each player determines his current play based on projecting mutual positioning. To share such a positioning with others, one has to share the subjective time and space where each person is positioned. In Japan, people express such a subjective time and space through each other’s bodies as the “Maai.” We believe that we have studied Maai by making humans express their mental and physical functions in the interface for operating an avatar in virtual space. We describe experimental results using a rhythm controller developed for examining the relationship between Maai and entrainment. We concretely show that when Maai is co-created, entrainment in multiple cycles occurs in subconscious bodily action or in the rhythm controller waveform that precedes the purposive action (avatar motion). We also show that humans realize the co-emergence of the improvisational Maai by changing the controller operational method depending on the situation. Furthermore, we explain that entrainment in multiple cycles a soft entrainment.