Table 5.

The Effects of Sharing Biographical Information and Narrations

First, as demonstrated by a recent fNIRS study99 during the mutual sharing of biographical information in a face-to-face setting, the spontaneous production and observation of facial displays (eye gaze and facial motion) generates a cross-brain synchrony in different brain areas. As suggested by Krueger,43 and Fanghella et al.,100 these cross-brain processes may generate a joint space—a “we-space” of action and meaning—that supports the interpersonal attunement between partners within the context of the common activity.

A second level of synchronizations is instead generated by the experience of an identical narrative stimulus. As demonstrated by Pérez et al.,101 when subjects are presented with the same auditory or audiovisual narrative, they experience a strong intersubject correlation of heart rate, facilitating the sharing of social emotions. Moreover, they generate the interbrain synchronization of brain activity. This synchronization has been observed using different neuroimaging modalities, including EEG,102,103 MEG,104 and functional near-infrared spectroscopy.105

MEG, magnetoencephalography.