The association between synchrony and intellectual productivity in a group discussion: a study using the SenseChair

In recent years, multi-person meeting formats such as brainstorming sessions and hackathons have become prevalent in numerous workplaces. Despite the introduction of several effective methods and guidelines for these meeting formats, optimal performance is not always attained. There has been active research to support intellectual production activities, and there is a demand to establish a quantitative index to assess the intellectual productivity of a group. This study evaluates the intellectual productivity of a group by analyzing the physical movements of conversationalists during discussions. Focusing on nonverbal synchrony (NVS), we examined its correlation with intellectual productivity, specifically exploring the relationship between pairwise synchrony and the number of ideas generated, the number of idea categories, and the originality of ideas produced during a discussion. Our analysis revealed a marginally significant positive correlation between the mean value of pairwise synchrony and the number of ideas generated by the team, indicating that as more pairs synchronize their body movements during a discussion, a greater number of ideas are generated. We suggest that analyzing local pairwise synchrony, focusing on pairs rather than all participants, could provide further insights into the correlation with the intellectual productivity of the group as a whole.