Analysis of Intellectual Resonance (or Synchronization) Using a Card Game (7) Influence of Seating Position

In a series of previous studies, we have established a method to quantitatively analyze intellectual resonance based on a concrete message. This method allows us to analyze how and to what extent intellectual resonance occurs in a group, through the use of digital information such as numbers and characters. In this method, participants take their seats and fill out special cards according to game instructions. The degree of coincidence among neighboring participants is then examined, and the results are scored. The scores are evaluated using mathematical tools within a probability theory framework. We named this trial 'Synchro-X'. In this study, we analyzed the data of trials repeated within two days by 56 participants with an aim for resonance ('positive trial'). This time , we examined whether the spatial location influence the score. Concretely, it was examined whether scores differed between a boundary-edge group which sat in the vicinity of the arranged area and an inside group which sat inside the arranged area. Trials were done in six sessions over two days, with three series of trials in each session at two-hour intervals between each session (eighteen trials in total). An inside group was divided into an inside-border group which touched the edge group and an inside-center group for the remainder. The score of the boundary-edge group was corrected according to a simple mathematical rule. As a result of analysis it was shown with statistical significance that the score of the inside-border group was higher than that of the inside-center group. As for the boundary-edge group, it was shown that there was no significant difference in scores with the inside group. It has been understood that there is no siginificant problem in the correction of the boundary-edge group score. Moreover, as for the inside group which did not receive correction, the possibility that the seating position influences the score was suggested, since there was a difference in the score between the inside-border group and the inside-center group. It was thought that an unknown mechanism, which was unexplained by the probability theory, might take part in the resonance phenomenon that occurrs in a human group.