ArticleScience advances2020
Dynamic brain-to-brain concordance and behavioral mirroring as a mechanism of the patient-clinician interaction.
Article in Science advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Together we sync: a systematic qualitative and quantitative review of fMRI hyperscanning studies.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Trial
- The increased inter-brain neural synchronization in prefrontal cortex between simulated patient and acupuncturist during acupuncture stimulation: Evidence from functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning.Human brain mapping · 2023Trial
- Lateralised neural mechanisms facilitate auditory self-other distinction and coordination in human dyads.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Understanding fibromyalgia beyond pain: emotional imbalance and the case for compassionate care.RMD open · 2026Review
- Therapeutic mechanisms of acupuncture therapy for acute pain in the emergency department.Integrative medicine research · 2026Review
- Through Massage to the Brain-Neuronal and Neuroplastic Mechanisms of Massage Based on Various Neuroimaging Techniques (EEG, fMRI, and fNIRS).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Brain sensory network activity underlies reduced nociceptive initiated and nociplastic pain via acupuncture in fibromyalgia.Communications medicine · 2026Article
- An Ecologically Valid Experimental Model for Repeated Evoked Pain Using a Wearable Device in Pain-Free Individuals: A Pilot Feasibility Study.Pain research & management · 2026Article
- Brain Sensory Network Activity Underlies Reduced Nociceptive-Initiated and Nociplastic Pain via Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia.Research square · 2025Article
- Beyond Needling: Integrating a Bayesian Brain Model into Acupuncture Treatment.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Artificial Empathy in Therapy and Healthcare: Advancements in Interpersonal Interaction Technologies.Cyborg and bionic systems (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Review
- Minding the moving self: the centrality of body movement in the neurodynamics of the self and psychotherapeutic implications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Analysis of the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy in acupuncture research: a review.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Synchronous Smiles and Hearts: Dyadic Meditations Enhance Closeness and Prosocial Behavior in Virtual and In-Person Settings.Mindfulness · 2025Article
- The ConNECT approach: toward a comprehensive understanding of meaningful interpersonal moments in psychotherapy and beyond.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
- Recent advances in acupuncture for pain relief.Pain reports · 2024Article
- Behavioral mirroring in Wistar rats investigated through temporal pattern analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Interpersonal physiological and psychological synchrony predict the social transmission of nocebo hyperalgesia between individuals.Communications psychology · 2024Article
- A synergetic turn in cognitive neuroscience of brain diseases.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 7 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The patient-clinician interaction can powerfully shape treatment outcomes such as pain but is often considered an intangible "art of medicine" and has largely eluded scientific inquiry. Although brain correlates of social processes such as empathy and theory of mind have been studied using single-subject designs, specific behavioral and neural mechanisms underpinning the patient-clinician interaction are unknown. Using a two-person interactive design, we simultaneously recorded functional magnetic resonance imaging (hyperscanning) in patient-clinician dyads, who interacted via live video, while clinicians treated evoked pain in patients with chronic pain. Our results show that patient analgesia is mediated by patient-clinician nonverbal behavioral mirroring and brain-to-brain concordance in circuitry implicated in theory of mind and social mirroring. Dyad-based analyses showed extensive dynamic coupling of these brain nodes with the partners' brain activity, yet only in dyads with pre-established clinical rapport. These findings introduce a putatively key brain-behavioral mechanism for therapeutic alliance and psychosocial analgesia.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.