Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29040766›Full record

ArticleSocial cognitive and affective neuroscience2017

Brain-to-brain synchronization across two persons predicts mutual prosociality.

Yi Hu, Yinying Hu, Xianchun Li, Yafeng Pan, Xiaojun Cheng

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
73citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

73 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Promoting Social Connectedness Through Interbrain Neurofeedback.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025
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  7. Social attachment shapes interbrain synchrony.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
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13 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Yi HuFaculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Yinying HuThe Key Lab of Brain Functional Genomics, MOE & STCSM, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Xianchun LiThe Key Lab of Brain Functional Genomics, MOE & STCSM, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Yafeng PanThe Key Lab of Brain Functional Genomics, MOE & STCSM, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Xiaojun ChengThe Key Lab of Brain Functional Genomics, MOE & STCSM, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

People tend to be more prosocial after synchronizing behaviors with others, yet the underlying neural mechanisms are rarely known. In this study, participant dyads performed either a coordination task or an independence task, with their brain activations recorded via the functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning technique. Participant dyads in the coordination group showed higher synchronized behaviors and greater subsequent inclination to help each other than those in the independence group, indicating the prosocial effect of interpersonal synchrony. Importantly, the coordination group demonstrated the significant task-related brain coherence, namely the interbrain synchronization, at the left middle frontal area. The detected interbrain synchronization was sensitive to shared intentionality between participants and was correlated with the mutual prosocial inclination. Further, the task-related brain coherence played a mediation role in the prosocial effect of interpersonal synchrony. This study reveals the relevance of brain-to-brain synchronization among individuals with subsequent mutual prosocial inclination and suggests the neural mechanism associating with shared cognition for the facilitation of interpersonal synchrony on prosociality.

Indexed as

Interpersonal RelationsSocial BehaviorAdolescentBrainBrain MappingFemaleHumansIntentionMovementPsychomotor PerformanceSpectroscopy, Near-InfraredYoung Adultfunctional near-infrared spectroscopyinterbrain synchronizationinterpersonal synchronyprosocialityshared intentionality

Identifiers

PMID29040766
PMCPMC5716073

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.