Higher emotional synchronization is modulated by relationship quality in romantic relationships and not in close friendships
Yijun Chen,
Shen Liu,
Yaru Hao,
Qian Zhao,
Jiecheng Ren,
Yi Piao,
Liuyun Wang,
Yunping Yang,
Chenggong Jin,
Hangwei Wang,
Xuezhi Zhou,
Jia-Hong Gao,
Xiaochu Zhang,
Zhengde Wei
Affiliations
Yijun Chen
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Shen Liu
Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
Yaru Hao
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Qian Zhao
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Jiecheng Ren
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Yi Piao
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Liuyun Wang
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Yunping Yang
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Chenggong Jin
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Hangwei Wang
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Xuezhi Zhou
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China
Jia-Hong Gao
Center for MRI Research, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei 230027, China
Xiaochu Zhang
Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Science and Medicine, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230027, China; Application Technology Center of Physical Therapy to Brain Disorders, Institute of Advanced Technology, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei 230031, China; Institute of Health and Medicine, Hefei Comprehensive Science Center, Hefei 230071, China; Corresponding authors at: University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
Zhengde Wei
Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Science, University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Intelligence for Information Behavior- Ministry of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai 201620, China; Corresponding authors at: University of Science & Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
Emotions are fundamental to social interaction and deeply intertwined with interpersonal dynamics, especially in romantic relationships. Although the neural basis of interaction processes in romance has been widely explored, the underlying emotions and the connection between relationship quality and neural synchronization remain less understood. Our study employed EEG hyperscanning during a non-interactive video-watching paradigm to compare the emotional coordination between romantic couples and close friends. Couples showed significantly greater behavioral and prefrontal alpha synchronization than friends. Notably, couples with low relationship quality required heightened neural synchronization to maintain robust behavioral synchronization. Further support vector machine analysis underscores the crucial role of prefrontal activity in differentiating couples from friends. In summary, our research addresses gaps concerning how intrinsic emotions linked to relationship quality influence neural and behavioral synchronization by investigating a natural non-interactive context, thereby advancing our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying emotional coordination in romantic relationships.
