about

MEA is programmed and developed by Fabian T. Ramseyer, Ph.D.

Contact address:

PD Dr. phil. Fabian T. Ramseyer
University of Bern
FernUni Schweiz
attunement GmbH

You can reach me at the following email address:
ramseyer – at – psync .ch

Research on Nonverbal Synchrony

I have been investigating the phenomenon of nonverbal synchrony since 2004.
This empirical research has been conducted in a variety of interaction contexts, including:

  • Psychotherapy
  • Marital therapy
  • Music therapy
  • Role-play interactions involving patients with psychopathology
  • Student interactions
  • Speed-dating interactions
  • Coaching sessions
  • Clinical interviews
  • Patient–clinician interactions
  • Medical settings involving hearing impairment
  • Experimental manipulations of social interaction (e.g. oxytocin; lipopolysaccharide)

Across these studies, we found that nonverbal synchrony occurs at levels significantly above what would be expected by chance. In many contexts, higher levels of synchrony were associated with positive interactional qualities such as affect, rapport, and interpersonal liking.

However, these associations were not consistently observed across all samples and interaction settings. Nonverbal synchrony may therefore reflect multiple aspects of the dynamic processes that emerge during social interaction.

Further details can be found in my publications. A complete list of publications is provided below. Journal publications using MEA are marked with a triple star at the end ***

Publications Fabian T Ramseyer

Journal Publications

  1. Yap, S. S., Ramseyer, F.T., Fachner, J., Maidhof, C., Tschacher, W., & Tucek, G. (2026). It takes time to synchronize: the emergence of dyadic heart-rate synchrony during music therapy in neurorehabilitation. Frontiers in Psychology, 17. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1629778 ***
  2. Sedlinská, M.-A., Ramseyer, F.T., Aschenbrenner, L. M., Scheidegger, A. E., Frei, A., Walther, S., Adorjan, K., & Gysin-Maillart, A. (2025). Association between movement synchrony and psychological pain in therapies with suicide attempters. Psychotherapy Research, Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2025.2587693 ***
  3. Hamel, L. M., Moulder, R., Harper, F. W. K., Manojlovich, M., Ramseyer, F.T., Penner, L. A., Albrecht, T. L., Boker, S., Bagautdinova, D., & Eggly, S. (2025). The Influence of Patient and Physician Race-Related Attitudes and Perceptions on Nonverbal Synchrony in Oncology Treatment Interactions Between Black Patients and Non-Black Physicians. Cancer Control, 32, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/10732748251375517 ***
  4. Zeng, Z., Holtmaat, K., Jia, X., Kleiboer, A., Rhighetti, F., Brouwer, A.-M., Ramseyer, F., Hendrikse, S. C. F., & Koole, S. L. (2025). From dyadic coping to emotional sharing and multimodal interpersonal synchrony: Protocol for a laboratory experiment. PLOS One, 20(5), e0323526. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323526 ***
  5. Flasbeck, V.‡, Ramseyer, F.T.‡, Schedlowski, M., Engler, H., & Brüne, M. (2024). Sick and Detached: Does Experimental Inflammation Impact on Movement Synchrony in Humans? Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2024.11.028 (‡ shared first authorship) ***
  6. Völter, C., Oberländer, K., Brüne, M., & Ramseyer, F.T. (2024) Impact of Hearing Loss and Auditory Rehabilitation on Dyads: A Microsocial Perspective. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s10919-024-00468-7 ***
  7. Ramseyer, F.T. (2023). iCAST: Ein praktisches Modell für die Integration nonverbaler Signale in die Psychotherapie. Die Psychotherapie, 68, 36-43. doi:10.1007/s00278-022-00618-6 ***
  8. Caspar, F., Berger, T., Holtforth, M.G., Babl, A., Heer, S., Lin, M., Stähli, A., Gomez Penedo, J.M., Holstein, D., Egenolf, Y., Frischknecht, E., Krieger, T., Ramseyer, F., Regli, D., Schmied, E., Flückiger, C., Brodbeck, J., Greenberg, L., Carver, C.S., Castonguay, L., Kramer, U., Auszra, L., Herrmann, I., & Belz, M. (2023). The impact of integrating emotion focused components into psychological therapy: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 79, 296-315. doi:10.1002/jclp.23421
  9. Völter, C., Oberländer, K., Mertens, S., & Ramseyer, F.T. (2022) Nonverbal synchrony in subjects with hearing impairment and their significant others. Front. Psychol. 13:964547. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.964547 ***
  10. Yap, S.S., Ramseyer, F.T, Fachner, J., Maidhof, C., Tschacher, W. & Tucek, G. (2022) Dyadic non-verbal synchrony during pre and post music therapy interventions and its relationship to self-reported therapy readiness. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 16:912729. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.912729 ***
  11. Hamel, L. M., Moulder, R., Ramseyer, F.T., Penner, L., Albrecht, T. L., Boker, S., & Eggly, S. (2022). Nonverbal synchrony: An indicator of clinical communication quality in racially-concordant and racially-discordant oncology interactions. Cancer Control. doi:10.1177/10732748221113905 ***
  12. Deres-Cohen, K., Lipsitz-Odess, I., Fisher, H., Ramseyer, F.T., Lutz., W., & Zilcha-Mano, S. (2022). Shedding light on the effects of supportive techniques on nonverbal synchrony and their moderators in psychotherapy for depression. Psychotherapy Research. 32(4), 470-483. doi:10.1080/10503307.2021.1966542 ***
  13. Deres-Cohen, K., Dolev-Amit, T., Peysachov, G., Ramseyer, F.T., & Zilcha-Mano, S. (2021). Nonverbal Synchrony as a Marker of Alliance Ruptures. Psychotherapy (Chic). 58(4), 499-509. doi:10.1037/pst0000384 ***
  14. Zimmermann, R., Fürer, L. E., Kleinbub, J. R., Ramseyer, F.T., Hütten, R., Steppan, M., & Schmeck, K. (2021). Movement synchrony in the psychotherapy of adolescents with borderline personality pathology -a dyadic trait marker for resilience? Frontiers in Psychology, 12:660516. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.660516 ***
  15. Erdoes, T., & Ramseyer, F.T. (2021). Change process in coaching: Interplay of nonverbal synchrony, working alliance, self-regulation and goal-attainment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12:580351. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.580351 ***
  16. Cohen, K., Ramseyer, F.T., Shachaf, T., & Zilcha-Mano, S. (2021). Nonverbal synchrony and the alliance in psychotherapy for major depression: Disentangling state-like and trait-like effects. Clinical Psychological Science, 9(4), 634-648. doi:10.1177/2167702620985294 ***
  17. Kleinbub, J. R., & Ramseyer, F.T. (2021). rMEA: An R package to assess nonverbal synchronization in motion energy analysis time-series. Psychotherapy Research, 31(6), 817-830. doi:10.1080/10503307.2020.1844334 ***
  18. Prinz, J. N., Boyle, K., Ramseyer, F., Kabus, W., Bar-Kalifa, E., & Lutz, W. (2021). Within and between associations of nonverbal synchrony in relation to grawe’s general mechanisms of change. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 28(1), 159-168. doi:10.1002/cpp.2498 ***
  19. Zilcha-Mano, S., & Ramseyer, F.T. (2020). Innovative approaches to exploring processes of change in counseling psychology: Insights and principles for future research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 67(4), 409-419. doi:10.1037/cou0000426
  20. Ramseyer, F., Ebert, A., Roser, P., Edel, M., Tschacher, W., & Brüne, M. (2020). Exploring nonverbal synchrony in Borderline Personality Disorder: A double-blind placebo controlled study using oxytocin. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 59(2), 186-207. doi:10.1111/bjc.12240 ***
  21. Ramseyer, F.T. (2020). Motion Energy Analysis: A primer on the assessment of motion from video. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 67(4), 536-549. doi:10.1037/cou0000407 ***
  22. Ramseyer, F.T. (2020). Exploring nonverbal synchrony in psychotherapy dyads: The idiographic perspective provides a different picture. Psychotherapy Research, 30(5), 622-634. doi:10.1080/10503307.2019.1676932 ***
  23. Moulder, R. G., Boker, S. M., Ramseyer, F., & Tschacher, W. (2018). Determining Synchrony Between Behavioral Time Series: An Application of Surrogate Data Generation for Establishing Falsifiable Null-Hypotheses. Psychological Methods, 23(4), 757-773. doi:10.1037/met0000172 ***
  24. Paulick, J., Deisenhofer, A., Ramseyer, F., Tschacher, W., Boyle, K., Rubel, J., & Lutz, W. (2018). Nonverbal synchrony: A new approach to better understand psychotherapeutic processes and drop-out. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 28(3), 367-384. doi: 10.1037/int0000099 ***
  25. Dutschke, L. L., Stegmayer, K., Ramseyer, F., Bohlhalter, S., Vanbellingen, T., Strik, W., & Walther, S. (2018). Gesture impairments in schizophrenia are linked to increased movement and prolonged motor planning and execution. Schizophrenia Research, 200, 42-49. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.07.012 ***
  26. Tschacher, W., Ramseyer, F., & Koole, S.L. (2018). Sharing the Now in the Social Present: Duration of Nonverbal Synchrony Is Linked With Personality. Journal of Personality, 86(2), 129-138. doi:10.1111/jopy.12298 ***
  27. Nelson, A., Grahe, J., & Ramseyer, F. (2016). Interacting in Flow: An Analysis of Rapport-Based Behavior as Optimal Experience. SAGE Open, 6(4), 1-11. doi:10.1177/2158244016684173 ***
  28. Babl, A., Grosse Holtforth, M., Heer, S., Lin, M., Stähli, A., Holstein, D., Belz, M., Egenolf, Y., Frischknecht, E., Ramseyer, F., Regli, D., Schmied, E., Flückiger, C., Brodbeck, J., Berger, T., & Caspar, F. (2016). Psychotherapy integration under scrutiny: investigating the impact of integrating emotion-focused components into a CBT-based approach: A study protocol of a randomized controlled trial. BMC Psychiatry, 16(1), 423. doi:10.1186/s12888-016-1136-7
  29. Ramseyer, F. & Tschacher, W. (2016). Movement Coordination in Psychotherapy: Synchrony of Hand Movements is Associated with Session Outcome: A Single-Case Study. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, 20(2). 145-166.
  30. Kupper, Z., Ramseyer, F., Hoffmann, H., & Tschacher, W. (2015). Nonverbal Synchrony in Social Interactions of Patients with Schizophrenia Indicates Socio-Communicative Deficits. PLoS ONE 10(12): e0145882. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0145882 ***
  31. Ramseyer, F., Kupper, Z., Caspar, F., Znoj, H., & Tschacher, W. (2014). Time-Series Panel Analysis (TSPA) – Multivariate modeling of temporal associations in psychotherapy process. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82(5). 828-838. doi:10.1037/a0037168
  32. Tschacher, W., Rees, G. M., & Ramseyer, F. (2014). Nonverbal synchrony and affect in dyadic interactions. Frontiers in Psychology, 5:1323. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01323 ***
  33. Ramseyer, F. & Tschacher, W. (2014). Nonverbal synchrony of head- and body-movement in psychotherapy: different signals have different associations with outcome. Frontiers in Psychology, 5:979. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00979 ***
  34. Nelson, A., Grahe, J., Ramseyer, F., & Serier, K. (2014). Psychological Data from an Exploration of the Rapport / Synchrony Interplay Using Motion Energy Analysis. Journal of Open Psychology Data, 2(1):e5, doi:10.5334/jopd.ae ***
  35. Walther, S., Ramseyer, F., Horn, H., Strik, W., & Tschacher, W. (2014). Less structured movement patterns predict severity of positive syndrome, excitement and disorganization. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 40(3), 585-591. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbt038
  36. Ramseyer, F. (2013). Synchronized Movement in Social Interaction. Proceedings of the 2013 Inputs-Outputs Conference: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Engagement in HCI and Performance, 1-5. doi: 10.1145/2557595.2557597 ***
  37. Tschacher, W., Ramseyer, F., & Bergomi, C. (2013). The subjective present and its modulation in clinical contexts. Timing & Time Perception, 1(2), 239-259. doi:10.1163/22134468-00002013 ***
  38. Tschacher, W., Zorn, P., & Ramseyer, F. (2012). Change mechanisms of schema-centered group psychotherapy with personality disorder patients. PLoS ONE, 7(6): e39687. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039687
  39. Ramseyer, F. & Tschacher, W. (2011). Nonverbal Synchrony in Psychotherapy: Coordinated Body-Movement Reflects Relationship Quality and Outcome. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(3), 284-295. doi:10.1037/a0023419 ***
  40. Kupper, Z., Ramseyer, F., Hoffmann, H., Kalbermatten, S., & Tschacher, W. (2010). Video-based quantification of body movement during social interaction indicates the severity of negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, 121(1-3), 90-100. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2010.03.032 ***
  41. Ramseyer, F. (2010). Nonverbale Synchronisation in der Psychotherapie. [Nonverbal synchrony in psychotherapy]. Systeme, 24(1), 5-30 ***
  42. Ramseyer, F. & Tschacher, W. (2010). Nonverbal synchrony or random coincidence? How to tell the difference. In A. Esposito, N. Campbell, C. Vogel, A. Hussain, & A. Nijholt (Eds.), Development of Multimodal Interfaces: Active Listening and Synchrony (pp. 182-196). Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-12397-9_15 ***
  43. Reidsma, D., Nijholt, A., Tschacher, W., & Ramseyer, F. (2010). Measuring multimodal synchrony for human-computer interaction. In A. Sourin (Ed.), 2010 International Conference on Cyberworlds (pp. 67-71). Los Alamitos, CA: IEEE Computer Society Press. doi:10.1109/CW.2010.21 ***
  44. Tschacher, W. & Ramseyer, F. (2009). Modeling psychotherapy process by time-series panel analysis (TSPA). Psychotherapy Research, 19(4-5), 469-481. doi:10.1080/10503300802654496
  45. Funkhouser, A., Würmle, O., Carnes, K., Locher, P., Ramseyer, F., & Bahro, M. (2008). Boundary questionnaire results and dream recall among persons going through retirement. International Journal of Dream Research, 1(2), 6-12.
  46. Tschacher, W., Ramseyer, F., & Grawe, K. (2007). Der Ordnungseffekt im Psychotherapieprozess: Replikation einer systemtheoretischen Vorhersage und Zusammenhang mit dem Therapieerfolg. [The order effect in the psychotherapy process: Replication of a systems theory prediction and process-outcome relationships]. Zeitschrift für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, 36(1), 18-25. doi:10.1026/1616-3443.36.1.18
  47. Ramseyer, F. & Tschacher, W. (2006). Synchrony: A core concept for a constructivist approach to psychotherapy. Constructivism in the Human Sciences, 11(1-2), 150-171. ***

Book Chapters

  • Ramseyer, F. T. (2024). iCAST: Possible Steps Toward the Integration of Nonverbal Signals into Psychotherapeutic Practice. In Training in Integrated Relational Psychotherapy (pp. 245-257). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-71904-2_11
  • Tschacher, W., Ramseyer, F., Pfammatter, M. (2020). The Social Present in Psychotherapy – Duration of Nowness in Therapeutic Interaction. In: M. Ochs, M. Borcsa, & J. Schweitzer (eds.). Systemic Research in Individual, Couple, and Family Therapy and Counseling (pp. 39-53). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-36560-8_3
  • Tschacher, W. & Ramseyer, F. (2017). Nonverbal synchrony. In A. Wenzel (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Abnormal and Clinical Psychology (Vol. 7, pp. 2298-2298). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781483365817.n922
  • Tschacher, W. & Ramseyer, F. (2017). Synchronie in dyadischer Interaktion: Verkörperte Kommunikation in Psychotherapie, Beratung, Paargesprächen. In: T. Breyer, M. Buchholz, A. Hamburger, & S. Pfänder (Eds.), Resonanz – Rhythmus – Synchronisierung. Interaktionen in Alltag, Therapie und Kunst. (pp. 319-334). Bielefeld, Germany: transcript.
  • Tschacher, W. & Ramseyer, F. (2014). Modeling psychotherapy process by time-series panel analysis (TSPA). In: W. Lutz, & S. Knox (Eds.), Quantitative and qualitative methods in psychotherapy research. (pp. 168-188). London: Routledge.
  • Tschacher, W., Tomicic, A., Martinez, C., & Ramseyer, F. (2012). Formen der Synchronie in dyadischer Interaktion [Modes of synchrony in dyadic social interaction]. In E. H. Witte & S. Petersen (Eds.), Sozialpsychologie, Psychotherapie und Gesundheit. (pp. 38-57). Lengerich, Germany: Pabst Science Publishers.?
  • Ramseyer, F. (2011). Nonverbal synchrony in psychotherapy: Embodiment at the level of the dyad. In W. Tschacher & C. Bergomi (Eds.), The implications of embodiment. Cognition and communication (pp. 193-207). Exeter, United Kingdom: Imprint Academic.
  • Ramseyer, F. (2010). Nonverbale Synchronisation in therapeutischer Interaktion [Nonverbal synchrony in therapeutic interaction]. In S. Bender (Ed.), Bewegungsanalyse von Interaktionen [Movement analysis of interaction] (pp. 11-32). Berlin, Germany: Logos.
  • Ramseyer, F. & Tschacher, W. (2008). Synchrony in dyadic psychotherapy sessions. In S. Vrobel, O. E. Rössler, & T. Marks-Tarlow (Eds.), Simultaneity: Temporal Structures and Observer Perspectives (pp. 329-347). Singapore: World Scientific.

Books

  • Ramseyer, F., Genner, R., & Brenner, H. (Eds.) (2005). Die Schweizer Psychiatrieversorgung im internationalen Vergleich. Berner Gespräche zur Sozialpsychiatrie. Zürich: edition 8.

Manuals / Software / Data

Scientific Presentations

Since 2002: More than 70 Scientific presentations at international conferences. Complete list available on request.