Presented During:
Thursday, June 27, 2024: 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM
COEX
Room:
Conference Room E 1
Poster No:
819
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Yijun Chen1, Zhengde Wei1, Xiaochu Zhang1
Institutions:
1University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui
First Author:
Yijun Chen
University of Science and Technology of China
Hefei, Anhui
Co-Author(s):
Zhengde Wei
University of Science and Technology of China
Hefei, Anhui
Xiaochu Zhang
University of Science and Technology of China
Hefei, Anhui
Introduction:
Emotions are fundamental to social interaction and deeply intertwined with interpersonal dynamics (Nummenmaa et al., 2012), especially in romantic relationships, which are characterized by their deep emotional bonds (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). Previous hyperscanning studies often entail interactive processes that are intricately intertwined with emotions (Barrett et al., 2007; Parkinson & Simons, 2009), posing a challenge to disentangle whether the observed neural synchronization reflects the emotions during the interaction or is intrinsic to the interaction itself. Moreover, studies have shown a strong association between relationship quality and emotional coordination (Larson & Almeida, 1999; Randall et al., 2013), thus warranting additional research in the romantic context.
Methods:
The final statistics include a total of 25 pairs of heterosexual couples (mean age = 22.90, SD = 3.20) and 25 pairs of heterosexual friends (mean age = 21.86, SD = 2.61). Heterosexual couples in relationships lasting less than 3 months or more than 36 months were excluded. All participants took part in EEG hyperscanning in dyads. In a designated setting (see Figure 1), participants engaged in a silent joint video-viewing task presented by E-prime 2.0 synchronously. The task comprised 2 blocks, each containing 6 randomly ordered videos. We selected two suitable videos for each of the six emotions: happiness, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust. All 12 videos had durations ranging from 50 seconds to 250 seconds. EEG data were collected using the EEG hyperscanning device provided by Neuracle (http://www.neuracle.cn/). Two 64-channel caps with electrodes arranged according to the international 10-20 system were employed to simultaneously record EEG signals at a sampling rate of 1000 Hz. We utilized the phase lag index (PLI) and the power spectral density (PSD) to quantify neural synchronization and individual activation. Correlation analysis, mediation analysis, and support vector machine analysis were employed to clarify the underlying mechanisms.
![Supporting Image: methods.png](https://files.aievolution.com/prd/hbm2401/abstracts/abs_1966/methods.png)
·Figure 1
Results:
Our results indicated that couples had significantly higher emotional behavioral synchronization and higher alpha PLI in the prefrontal cortex than friends (Figure 1). Pearson correlation analysis found that relationship quality was significantly correlated with both emotional behavioral synchronization and neural synchronization in the couple group rather than in the friend group (Figure 2a-f). Among these three variables, we observed partial mediation in couples (path: relationship quality[X] → neural synchronization[M] → behavioral synchronization[Y]), suggesting a compensatory mechanism among them. Moreover, we calculated the PSD in the prefrontal cortex of the alpha band and found a significant interaction effect of "gender*group" (Figure 2h). Couples showed gender differences in PSD and these activation were significantly associated with differences in relationship quality in males (Figure 2i,j). These differences help distinguish the two types of relationships, and the best classification performance was achieved by utilizing only alpha PLI between the PFCs of the dyads (Figure 2k-m).
![Supporting Image: ohbm2.png](https://files.aievolution.com/prd/hbm2401/abstracts/abs_1966/ohbm2.png)
·Figure 2
Conclusions:
We examined differences in emotional experiences, both in neural and behavioral performance, between heterosexual couples and heterosexual friends from a dyad synchronization perspective without direct interaction. Our results reveal that in romantic relationships, there is a deeper emotional connection and a significant correlation with relationship quality. Couples use brain synchronization to overcome relationship challenges and exert influence on gender-based differences in brain activity, distinguishing them from friends. Overall, our study sheds light on the neural mechanisms underlying emotional coordination within romantic contexts, offering the potential to strengthen emotional bonds and enhance relationship quality between partners.
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Emotional Perception
Social Interaction 1
Social Neuroscience Other 2
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
EEG
Keywords:
Electroencephaolography (EEG)
Emotions
Other - romantic love; relationship quality; EEG-hyperscanning; neural synchronization
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
Barrett, L. F. (2007). 'The Experience of Emotion', Annual Review of Psychology, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 373–403
Hazan, C. (1987). 'Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 511–524
Larson, R. W. (1999). 'Emotional Transmission in the Daily Lives of Families: A New Paradigm for Studying Family Process', Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 5–20
Nummenmaa, L. (2012). 'Emotions promote social interaction by synchronizing brain activity across individuals', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 109, no. 24, pp. 9599–9604
Parkinson, B. (2009). 'Affecting Others: Social Appraisal and Emotion Contagion in Everyday Decision Making', Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 35, no. 8, pp. 1071–1084
Randall, A. K. (2013). 'Cooperating with your romantic partner: Associations with interpersonal emotion coordination', Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, vol. 30, no. 8,pp. 1072–1095