Utility of Vocal Synchrony Measure as an Indicator of Coregulation in Adult Attachment

We aimed to explore the concept of coregulation in adulthood based on the analyses of vocal cues in conversations. Moderators which potentially affect vocal coordination between romantic partners were also examined. Twenty- four heterosexual dating couples (Mage = 21.25; SD = 1.03) from Cornell University were recruited for the Study. Participants communicated with their romantic and stranger partner in a balanced order. Their conversations were recorded and vocal features were extracted. Granger-causality analyses yielded that close partner conversations were bidirectional, signifying that female participants’ previous F0 responses caused male participants’ subsequent F0 responses and vice versa. In the stranger partner conversations, however, only female participants’ previous F0 responses caused male participants’ subsequent F0 responses, implying that there was unidirectional association between stranger partners. In sum, findings suggested that coregulation process can be observed at the vocal level using synchronous speech patterns. Implications for attachment-in-the-making between romantic partners and the literature on behavioral mimicry were discussed.