Interpersonal Neural Synchrony in Close Relationships: Hyperscanning Studies of Parents, Children, and Romantic Partners

Speaker: 

Prof. Antonia Hamilton 

Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK 

Biography of the speaker: 

Professor Hamilton is the leader of the Social Neuroscience group at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (UCL). She completed a PhD on the impact of neuronal noise for the optimal control of human arm movements (UCL, 2002) and has since worked on imitation and brain systems for social interaction. She was awarded the Experimental Psychology Society prize lectureship for 2013. Her current research interests include how and why people imitate each other, how social skills differ in autism, and the neural mechanisms of social interaction.  

Description of the general focus of the symposium: 

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. 

Brief description of the talk: 

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.