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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 7, 2025

Inter-Brain Synchrony in Open-Ended Collaborative Learning: An fNIRS-Hyperscanning Study
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Inter-brain synchrony in teams predicts collective performance.

Diego A Reinero1, Suzanne Dikker1, Jay J Van Bavel1

  • 1Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
|September 29, 2020
PubMed
Summary

Synchronized brain activity (inter-brain synchrony) among team members, not just group identification, predicts collective performance in problem-solving tasks. This finding offers new insights into team dynamics and success.

Keywords:
collective performancegroup identificationhyperscanninginter-brain synchronyteams

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology
  • Team Dynamics

Background:

  • Decades of research in economics and psychology have sought to define successful teams.
  • Neuroscience is beginning to explore how multiple brains interact, observing synchronized brain activity (inter-brain synchrony) during social engagement.
  • The relationship between inter-brain synchrony and collective team behavior remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the link between inter-brain synchrony and collective performance in teams.
  • To explore how group identification and inter-brain synchrony contribute to team success.
  • To merge group neuroscience with team dynamics literature.

Main Methods:

  • Recruited 174 participants, forming groups of 4.
  • Randomly assigned participants to either independent or team-based problem-solving tasks.
  • Recorded brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning during tasks.

Main Results:

  • Teammates reported stronger group identification and cooperated more in an economic game.
  • Teams generally outperformed the average individual performance on problem-solving tasks.
  • Inter-brain synchrony, not self-reported group identification, was a significant predictor of collective team performance.

Conclusions:

  • Inter-brain synchrony is a key factor in understanding collective performance within teams.
  • Neuroscientific measures like inter-brain synchrony may offer more objective insights than self-report measures in team settings.
  • This study highlights the potential of group neuroscience to advance the study of team dynamics.