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  • August 2012
  • Article
  • Social and Personality Psychology Compass

From Mind Perception to Mental Connection: Synchrony as a Mechanism for Social Understanding

By: Thalia Wheatley, Olivia Kang, Carolyn Parkinson and Christine E. Looser
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:18
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Abstract

Connecting deeply with another mind is as enigmatic as it is fulfilling. Why people ‘‘click’’ with some people but not others is one of the great unsolved mysteries of science. However, researchers from psychology and neuroscience are converging on a likely physiological basis for connection—neural synchrony (entrainment). Here, we review research on the necessary precursors for interpersonal synchrony: the ability to detect a mind and resonate with its outputs. Further, we describe potential mechanisms for the development of synchrony between two minds. We then consider recent neuroimaging and behavioral evidence for the adaptive benefits of synchrony, including neural efficiency and the release of a reward signal that promotes future social interaction. In nature, neural synchrony yields behavioral synchrony. Humans use behavioral synchrony to promote neural synchrony, and thus, social bonding. This reverse-engineering of social connection is an important innovation likely underlying this distinctively human capacity to create large-scale social coordination and cohesion.

Keywords

Neuroscience; Social Psychology; Interpersonal Communication; Relationships

Citation

Wheatley, Thalia, Olivia Kang, Carolyn Parkinson, and Christine E. Looser. "From Mind Perception to Mental Connection: Synchrony as a Mechanism for Social Understanding." Social and Personality Psychology Compass 6, no. 8 (August 2012): 589–606.
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More from the Authors

    • May 2014
    • Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

    Group Membership Alters the Threshold for Mind Perception: The Role of Social Identity, Collective Identification, and Intergroup Threat

    By: Leor M. Hackel, Christine E. Looser and Jay J. Van Bavel
    • Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

    Multivoxel Patterns in Face-sensitive Temporal Regions Reveal an Encoding Schema Based on Detecting Life in a Face

    By: Christine E. Looser, J. Swaroop Guntupalli and Thalia Wheatley
    • February 2011
    • PLoS ONE

    Mind Perception: Real but Not Artificial Faces Sustain Neural Activity beyond the N170/VPP

    By: Thalia Wheatley, Anna Weinberg, Christine E. Looser, Tim Moran and Greg Hajcak
More from the Authors
  • Group Membership Alters the Threshold for Mind Perception: The Role of Social Identity, Collective Identification, and Intergroup Threat By: Leor M. Hackel, Christine E. Looser and Jay J. Van Bavel
  • Multivoxel Patterns in Face-sensitive Temporal Regions Reveal an Encoding Schema Based on Detecting Life in a Face By: Christine E. Looser, J. Swaroop Guntupalli and Thalia Wheatley
  • Mind Perception: Real but Not Artificial Faces Sustain Neural Activity beyond the N170/VPP By: Thalia Wheatley, Anna Weinberg, Christine E. Looser, Tim Moran and Greg Hajcak
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