Analysis of Intellectual Resonance (or Synchronization) Comparison between Positive Trials and Neutral Trials

In our previous study, we proposed 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 though the use of digital information such as numbers and characters. In this method, participants take their seats and fill out special cards according to instructions. The degree of coincidence among neighboring participants is then examined and scores are assigned to the results. The scores are evaluated by mathematical tools within a framework of probability theory. In this study, we analyzed the data of 412 participants (12 groups) who carried out two trials on the same day for the first time, one with an aim for resonance ('positive trial') and the other without any aim toward resonance ('neutral trial'). In both trials, the degree of resonance of the digital information fell into the theoretically expected range. The degree of resonance in the positive trials was higher than that in the neutral trials. It was speculated that participants changed the heterogeneity of the probability distribution of information selection mainly in the range of respective groups, thereby increasing the degree of coincidence. The data may also be useful for evaluating different kinds of trials.