ReviewBrain sciences2025
A Systematic Review of Inter-Brain Synchrony and Psychological Conditions: Stress, Anxiety, Depression, Autism and Other Disorders.
Review in Brain sciences, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Watching Together, Yet Feeling Apart: Interpersonal Neural Synchronization as a Marker of Symptom Severity in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder During Naturalistic Viewing.Human brain mapping · 2026Article
- Analysis of inter-brain synchrony in group-based electroencephalography to assess task-dependent interactions.Frontiers in neuroergonomics · 2026Article
- Stage 1 registered report examining agency and outcome valence on inter-brain synchrony during dyadic moral judgments.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInter-brain synchrony (IBS)-the temporal alignment of neural activity between individuals during social interactions-has emerged as a key construct in social neuroscience, reflecting shared attention, emotional attunement, and coordinated behavior. Enabled by hyperscanning techniques, IBS has been observed across a range of dyadic contexts, including cooperation, empathy, and communication. This systematic review synthesizes recent empirical findings on inter-brain synchrony (IBS)-the temporal alignment of neural activity between individuals-across psychological and neurodevelopmental conditions, including stress, anxiety, depression, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
methodsDrawing on 30 studies employing hyperscanning methodologies (EEG, fNIRS, fMRI), we examined how IBS patterns vary by clinical condition, dyad type, and brain region.
resultsFindings indicate that IBS is generally reduced in anxiety, depression, and ASD, particularly in key social brain regions such as the dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortices (dlPFC, mPFC, vmPFC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), suggesting impaired emotional resonance and social cognition. In contrast, stress elicited both increases and decreases in IBS, modulated by context, emotional proximity, and cooperative strategies. Parent-child, therapist-client, and romantic dyads exhibited distinct synchrony profiles, with gender and relational dynamics further shaping neural coupling.
conclusionsCollectively, the findings support IBS as a potentially dynamic, condition-sensitive, and contextually modulated neurophysiological indicator of interpersonal functioning, with implications for diagnostics, intervention design, and the advancement of social neuroscience in clinical settings.
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