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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Measurement of the Directional Information Flow in fNIRS-Hyperscanning Data using the Partial Wavelet Transform Coherence Method
Published on: September 3, 2021
Flow of affective information between communicating brains
Silke Anders1, Jakob Heinzle, Nikolaus Weiskopf
1Department of Neurology and Neuroimage Nord, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany. silke.anders@neuro.uni-luebeck.de
Neural activity in a perceiver's brain mirrors a sender's brain activity during facial communication. This brain-to-brain affective information transfer shows a temporal delay, indicating a developing shared emotional space.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Human interaction involves the transmission of affective information between brains.
- Modern neuroimaging techniques allow for the investigation of brain-to-brain information transfer dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the flow of affective information between sender and perceiver brains during facial communication.
- To examine the neural correlates of shared affective experiences.
Main Methods:
- Utilized information-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- Analyzed neural activity patterns in senders and perceivers during ongoing affective facial communication.
Main Results:
- Neural activity in a distributed network of the perceiver's brain was predictable from the sender's brain activity, varying with the communicated affect.
- A temporal delay was observed in the flow of affective information from sender to perceiver, decreasing over time.
- This temporal dynamic suggests a 'tuning in' process between interacting individuals.
Conclusions:
- Provided direct evidence for a successive build-up of a shared affective space during facial communication.
- Supported theories of intersubjectivity by demonstrating real-time neural synchronization during affective signaling.
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08:36Dynamic Inter-subject Functional Connectivity Reveals Moment-to-Moment Brain Network Configurations Driven by Continuous or Communication Paradigms
Published on: March 21, 2019
05:33How to Calculate and Validate Inter-brain Synchronization in a fNIRS Hyperscanning Study
Published on: September 8, 2021
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