Many common tasks require or are made more efficient by
coordinating with others. In this paper we investigate the
coordination dynamics of a joint action pick-and-place task in
order to identify the behavioral dynamics that underlie the
emergence of human coordination. More precisely, we
introduce a task dynamics approach for modeling multi-agent
interaction in a continuous pick-and-place task where two
agents must decide to work together or alone to move an object
from one location to another. Our aims in the current paper are
to identify and model (1) the relevant affordance dynamics that
underlie the selection of the different action modes required by
the task and (2) the trajectory dynamics of each actor’s hand
movements when moving to grasp, relocate, or pass the object.
We demonstrate that the emergence of successful coordination
can be characterized in terms of behavioral dynamics models
which may have applications for artificial agent design.