Micro-phenomenology, an interview and analysis method for investigating subjective experience, can be turned on itself to reveal quality criteria. In a pilot series of five interviews, experienced micro-phenomenology researchers recalled one successful and one challenging instance of using the method. An auto-ethnographic dialogue between the authors illustrates the planning, conducting, and analysis of these interviews. An unexpected finding emerged: researchers judge the quality of an interview partly based on a sense of connection or contact between interviewer and interviewee. The article discusses this finding in relation to the method's means and intentions and suggests directions for future research.
Social cognition can be grounded in sensorimotor interactions shared across agents. An action-oriented account emerges from a broader interpretation of sensorimotor contingencies, where dynamic informational and sensorimotor coupling across agents mediates action-effect contingencies in social contexts. This framework, socializing sensorimotor contingencies (socSMCs), integrates neuroscience, psychology, and human-robot interaction research. Empirical findings suggest sensorimotor and informational entrainment plays an important role in social contexts. Social cognitive phenomena like joint attention, mutual trust, and empathy rely heavily on such coupling between agents. This insight may provide novel remedies for disturbed social cognition and lead to more natural human-robot interfaces.