ABSTRACT

Joint actions are building blocks of our social life; examples range from two friends walking together to construction workers building a skyscraper. They are actions that individuals need to, or prefer to, perform with others. We call it a joint action when two or more people coordinate their actions in space and time to bring about a change in the environment (Sebanz, Bekkering, & Knoblich, 2006). Team sports form a clear case of joint action in which often very fine-grained coordination is required. Take the alley-oop example in basketball. One player throws the ball toward the basket while a teammate jumps up near it, catches the ball midair, and immediately scores. Each player needs to anticipate the other’s move, and to perform his or her own move at the exact correct moment to be able to score. What are the essential cognitive and motor mechanisms that make such joint actions possible? How are joint skills, be they basketball or ballroom dancing, acquired?