On the Same Wavelength: Face-to-Face Communication Increases Interpersonal Neural Synchronization

Understanding neural mechanisms of social interaction is important for understanding human social nature and for developing treatments for social deficits related to disorders such as autism. However, conventional cognitive and behavioral neuroscience has concentrated on developing novel experimental paradigms and investigating human–computer interactions, rather than studying interpersonal interaction per se. To fully understand neural mechanisms of human interpersonal interaction, we will likely have to investigate human behavior and neural processes in face-to-face social interaction rather than human–computer interaction. Recently, simultaneous EEG or functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has been used to record brain activity of two participants in a face-to-face setting (i.e., hyperscanning) to investigate human social interaction in a more naturalistic context (Jiang et al., 2012; Yun et al., 2012).