Neural Synchronization during Face-to-Face Communication

Jiang, Jing; Dai, Bohan; Peng, Danling; Zhu, Chaozhe; Liu, Li; Lu, Chunming

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2926-12.2012

Cited by 395 publications

(401 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…WTC was applied to each pair of the time series to generate 2D coherence maps. According to previous studies (10,12), the coherence value increases when there are interactions between persons, compared with that during the resting state. Based on the same rationale, the average coherence value between 0.02 and 0.2 Hz was calculated.…”

Section: Determination Of the Leaders And Evaluation Of Communicationmentioning

confidence: 73%

Leader emergence through interpersonal neural synchronization

Jiang

Chen

Dai

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

268

254

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The neural mechanism of leader emergence is not well understood. This study investigated (i) whether interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) plays an important role in leader emergence, and (ii) whether INS and leader emergence are associated with the frequency or the quality of communications. Eleven three-member groups were asked to perform a leaderless group discussion (LGD) task, and their brain activities were recorded via functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning. Video recordings of the discussions were coded for leadership and communication. Results showed that the INS for the leader-follower (LF) pairs was higher than that for the follower-follower (FF) pairs in the left temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), an area important for social mentalizing. Although communication frequency was higher for the LF pairs than for the FF pairs, the frequency of leaderinitiated and follower-initiated communication did not differ significantly. Moreover, INS for the LF pairs was significantly higher during leader-initiated communication than during follower-initiated communications. In addition, INS for the LF pairs during leaderinitiated communication was significantly correlated with the leaders' communication skills and competence, but not their communication frequency. Finally, leadership could be successfully predicted based on INS as well as communication frequency early during the LGD (before half a minute into the task). In sum, this study found that leader emergence was characterized by highlevel neural synchronization between the leader and followers and that the quality, rather than the frequency, of communications was associated with synchronization. These results suggest that leaders emerge because they are able to say the right things at the right time.eadership is a ubiquitous feature of all social species, including human and nonhuman animals (1, 2). However, the neural mechanism of leader emergence is still not well-understood. Evolutionary theories suggest that, whereas both human and nonhuman animals have evolved tendencies to compete for dominance over access to survival-related resources (3-5), human leaders also play an important role in maintaining group cohesion (6). Thus, human leaders need to take into account not only their own needs but also the needs of their followers to facilitate cooperation among group members (7-9). Interestingly, recent imaging evidence indicates that the neural activities of two individuals are more synchronized when they perform a cooperative rather than a competitive task (10). Moreover, the level of interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) is closely associated with the level of understanding between partners (11). It is unknown, however, whether INS is involved in leader emergence.Previous evidence has shown that communication plays an important role in the increase of INS (12). However, the role of communication in leader emergence has been extensively debated. On the one hand, the so-called "babble" hypothesis postulates that the most t...

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Section: Determination Of the Leaders And Evaluation Of Communicationmentioning

confidence: 73%

Leader emergence through interpersonal neural synchronization

Jiang

Chen

Dai

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

268

254

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Lindenberger et al, 2009, Dumas et al, 2010, Dodel et al, 2011, Yun et al, 2012, or fNIRS (e.g. Cui et al, 2012, Holper et al, 2012, Jiang et al, 2012 recordings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontal alpha oscillations distinguish leaders from followers: Multivariate decoding of mutually interacting brains

et al. 2014

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“…First, given that establishing shared symbols requires taking into account the inferred knowledge of the interlocutor ["audience design" (17)(18)(19)], the generation and comprehension of those symbols should involve neural patterns associated with flexible conceptual knowledge (20)(21)(22)(23), rather than sensorimotor couplings with limited generalization patterns (9,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Second, cerebral activities supporting these conceptual processes during generation and comprehension of novel shared symbols should overlap, given that these processes relate to the specific conversational context shared by the interlocutors of the communicative exchange (29).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural mechanisms of communicative innovation

Stolk

Verhagen

Schoffelen

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Human referential communication is often thought as codingdecoding a set of symbols, neglecting that establishing shared meanings requires a computational mechanism powerful enough to mutually negotiate them. Sharing the meaning of a novel symbol might rely on similar conceptual inferences across communicators or on statistical similarities in their sensorimotor behaviors. Using magnetoencephalography, we assess spectral, temporal, and spatial characteristics of neural activity evoked when people generate and understand novel shared symbols during live communicative interactions. Solving those communicative problems induced comparable changes in the spectral profile of neural activity of both communicators and addressees. This shared neuronal up-regulation was spatially localized to the right temporal lobe and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and emerged already before the occurrence of a specific communicative problem. Communicative innovation relies on neuronal computations that are shared across generating and understanding novel shared symbols, operating over temporal scales independent from transient sensorimotor behavior.social interaction | theory of mind | experimental semiotics | MEG | broadband spectral change

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Neural Synchronization during Face-to-Face Communication

Cited by 395 publications

References 30 publications

Leader emergence through interpersonal neural synchronization

Leader emergence through interpersonal neural synchronization

Frontal alpha oscillations distinguish leaders from followers: Multivariate decoding of mutually interacting brains

Neural mechanisms of communicative innovation

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