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Measurement of the Directional Information Flow in fNIRS-Hyperscanning Data using the Partial Wavelet Transform Coherence Method
Published on: September 3, 2021
Interpersonal Neural Synchronization during Interpersonal Touch Underlies Affiliative Pair Bonding between Romantic
Yuhang Long1, Lifen Zheng1, Hui Zhao1
1State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Abstract:
Interpersonal touch plays a key role in creating and maintaining affiliative pair bonds in romantic love. However, the neurocognitive mechanism of interpersonal touch in affiliative pair bonding remains unclear. Here, we hypothesized that interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) during interpersonal touch underlies affiliative pair bonding between romantic couples. To test this hypothesis, INS between heterosexual romantic couples and between opposite-sex friends was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based hyperscanning, while the pairs of participants touched or vocally communicated with each other. The results showed significantly greater INS between the mentalizing and sensorimotor neural systems of two members of a pair during interpersonal touch than during vocal communication between romantic couples but not between friends. Moreover, touch-induced INS was significantly correlated with the self-reported strength of romantic love. Finally, the results also showed that men's empathy positively modulated the association between touch-induced INS increase and the strength of romantic love. These findings support the idea that INS during interpersonal touch underlies affiliative pair bonding between romantic couples and suggest that empathy plays a modulatory role in the neurocognitive mechanism of interpersonal touch in affiliative pair bonding.
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