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24.04.2026, Friday, 16:00-17:30
Social interaction is inherently dynamic and reciprocal, involving continuous exchange of behavioral and neural signals between individuals. In recent years, hyperscanning methods have enabled researchers to simultaneously record brain activity from two or more individuals, opening new perspectives on interpersonal neural synchrony as a neurobiological basis of social connection. This symposium focuses on hyperscanning studies investigating neural synchrony in close interpersonal relationships, including parent–child dyads, families of children with autism spectrum conditions, and romantic partners. The symposium aims to integrate developmental and social neuroscience approaches, highlighting how neural synchrony emerges, differs, and adapts across relationship types and developmental stages. Special emphasis will be placed on parent–child interactions during childhood, neural coupling in families of autistic children, and synchrony between romantic partners during social and emotional exchanges. By bringing together different institutions, the symposium will showcase a broad range of methods (EEG and fNIRS hyperscanning, multimodal approaches) and analytical frameworks. This interdisciplinary session will contribute to a deeper understanding of how interpersonal neural synchrony supports social functioning, emotional regulation, and relationship quality, and how it may be altered in neurodevelopmental conditions.
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
Prof. Antonia Hamilton’s keynote will address the neural mechanisms underlying real-time social interaction, with a particular focus on autism spectrum conditions. Drawing on research from social neuroscience and hyperscanning paradigms, the talk will explore how interpersonal neural synchrony reflects shared representations, action understanding, and social engagement. Prof. Hamilton will discuss how neural coupling differs between typically developing individuals and those on the autism spectrum, and how these differences relate to social skills and interaction quality. The lecture will provide a theoretical framework for understanding synchrony as both a neural and behavioral phenomenon and will set the stage for empirical findings presented in the symposium across different close relationships, including parent–child and romantic dyads.
University of Trento, Italy
"Determinants of interpersonal neural synchrony: The role of closeness and interaction context"
This talk will present a functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning study examining how interpersonal closeness and interaction context shape neural synchrony across different social dyads. Brain activity was simultaneously recorded from 142 dyads, including close friends, romantic partners, and mother–child pairs, during three interaction conditions: passive video co-exposure, a structured cooperative game, and unstructured free interaction. Interpersonal neural synchrony was quantified using wavelet transform coherence across bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Findings highlight how social context and developmental factors jointly modulate interpersonal neural synchrony in naturalistic interactions.
1 Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Poland
2 Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland
3 SYNCC-IN, University of Warsaw, Poland
"Emotional modulation of caregiver–child neural synchrony in autism: insights from EEG hyperscanning"
Early caregiver–child interactions are fundamental for the development of emotional regulation and social functioning. Interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) has been proposed as a key mechanism supporting these processes.
In this EEG hyperscanning study we investigated neural synchrony between children with and without autism and their caregivers during joint viewing of short film clips differing in emotional valence (neutral: Peppa Pig; emotional: Brave, The Incredibles). Brain activity was recorded simultaneously from both members of the dyad. Neural synchrony in the theta and alpha bands, extracted from predefined regions of interest (ROIs), was quantified using Multidimensional Recurrence Quantification Analysis (MdRQA), capturing both the strength and temporal structure of shared dynamics (e.g., recurrence rate, determinism, entropy, and vertical line measures).
Preliminary results indicate that emotional context modulates the variability and temporal organisation of neural synchrony. Greater variability across MdRQA measures was observed in the neutral condition, particularly in the autism group, suggesting increased individual differences in dyadic dynamics. In contrast, emotionally salient clips elicited more homogeneous synchrony patterns across dyads. Vertical line measures indicated longer, more continuous shared states in the neutral condition, whereas emotional scenes were associated with shorter, more variable synchrony episodes, consistent with increased co-regulatory processes. Entropy analyses further suggested a more uniform synchrony structure under emotionally engaging conditions. Converging patterns were observed for attentional synchrony.
These findings suggest that emotional salience constrains interpersonal neural dynamics, while low-arousal contexts reveal intrinsic variability in caregiver–child synchrony, particularly in autism. The study highlights the importance of examining the temporal structure of synchrony in naturalistic interactions.
SYNCC-IN, University of Warsaw
"Multimodal assessment of caregiver–child synchrony: insights from the SYNCC-IN project"
Understanding caregiver–child synchrony requires integrating behavioral, physiological, and neural levels of analysis. The SYNCC-IN project adopts a multimodal hyperscanning approach to investigate biobehavioral synchrony in mother–child dyads, including both typically developing children and children on the autism spectrum.
Data are collected during structured play, joint video viewing, and free conversation. Across these contexts, we simultaneously record EEG, fNIRS, eye-tracking (ET), and heart rate variability (HRV).
This presentation focuses on methodological approaches to analyzing eye-tracking and fNIRS data during joint viewing of short film clips differing in emotional valence. Preliminary results are presented from 30 typically developing mother–child dyads. fNIRS signals were recorded over frontal and temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) regions, while mobile eye-tracking glasses captured gaze alignment and pupil dynamics in both participants.
Results indicate robust interpersonal synchrony across modalities. Higher synchrony was observed during a neutral, low-arousal film, whereas emotionally salient clips were associated with reduced synchrony and increased entropy, suggesting more variable and less stable dyadic dynamics.We further address key methodological challenges in hyperscanning, including how to assess synchrony without a traditional control group and how to construct surrogate comparisons to test research hypotheses.
These findings demonstrate the value of multimodal hyperscanning for studying caregiver–child interaction and provide a practical framework for analyzing interpersonal synchrony in naturalistic contexts.
Uniwersytet Warszawski, Wydział Psychologii
"Comparing the Self and Co-regulation in low and high stakes moments in Autistic and Neurotypical Child-Caregiver Dyads."
One of the earliest and most influential interactions occurs between children and caregivers. These exchanges form part of Biobehavioral Synchrony, defined as the matching of behavioral, affective states and biological rhythms between two individuals. Until children develop independent self-regulation (SR), adults provide external regulation, or co-regulation (CR). Over time, regulation progresses from the interpersonal (CR) to the intrapersonal level (SR). This developmental process unfolds within the dyadic child-caregiver context and may be disrupted by autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The study examined whether this developmental shift from CR to SR is reflected in dyadic motor and physiological synchrony, and whether it is altered in dyads including a child with ASD. We also explored links between interaction patterns and mothers’ temperament dimensions.
Interactions were recorded using the SECORE protocol during low-arousal (free play) and high-arousal (e.g., surprise, fear) episodes. Preliminary data include 50 dyads (TD–TD: N = 30; TD–ASD: N = 20). Using the YOLO model, movement synchrony, spatial distance, and child motor responsiveness (temporal coupling) were automatically coded. Heart rate variability was recorded in both mothers and children.
ASD dyads showed lower movement synchrony and reduced temporal coupling. Mothers of children with ASD followed their child’s movements more closely, suggesting a more child-led interaction pattern. Interaction patterns were associated with maternal temperament.
The results suggest that the developmental process progressing from interpersonal co-regulation (CR) to intrapersonal self-regulation (SR) may be altered in ASD. These findings highlight that regulatory processes unfold within the dyadic child-caregiver context and may be shaped by both child characteristics and maternal temperament.
