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Research ArticleResearch Article: New Research, Cognition and Behavior

Sharing Happy Stories Increases Interpersonal Closeness: Interpersonal Brain Synchronization as a Neural Indicator

Enhui Xie, Qing Yin, Keshuang Li, Samuel A. Nastase, Ruqian Zhang, Ning Wang and Xianchun Li
eNeuro 8 November 2021, 8 (6) ENEURO.0245-21.2021; https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0245-21.2021
Enhui Xie
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
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  • ORCID record for Enhui Xie
Qing Yin
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
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Keshuang Li
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
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Samuel A. Nastase
2Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544
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Ruqian Zhang
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
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Ning Wang
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
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Xianchun Li
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
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Article Figures & Data

Figures

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  • Figure 1.
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    Figure 1.

    Experimental design. A, Speaker design. The speaker was invited to watch an emotional video and shared the stories in the video by narrating. B, Listener design. The listener was asked to listen to the story of the video through the speaker’s narration and allowed to recall the story which the speaker shared. C, The task in The Speaker Speaking and The Listener Listening. The specific procedure of sharing stories.

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    Figure 2.

    Behavioral results in the happy and sad group. A, The recall quality (δ value) is shown for happy (Happy-Neutral) and sad (Sad-Neutral) emotions. B, The rating of interpersonal closeness is shown for happy (Happy-Neutral) and sad (Sad-Neutral) groups; **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.

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    Figure 3.

    PLV of different groups [happy (Happy-Neutral) and sad (Sad-Neutral)] in sharing matchup (The Speaker Speaking-The Listener Listening). A, The PLV in the θ band at the F site. B, The PLV in the θ band at the F site. All after FDR correction; **p < 0.01.

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    Figure 4.

    Correlation between behavioral results and frontal IBS. A, Correlation between the recall quality (δ value) and the PLV in the θ band (δ value). The frontal PLV in the θ band positively correlated with the recall quality of dyads. B, We found the left TP PLV in the θ band was not significantly correlated with recall quality of dyads. C, Correlation between interpersonal closeness and the PLV in the θ band. The frontal PLV in the θ band positively correlated with interpersonal closeness of dyads. D, The left TP PLV in the θ band was nonsignificant correlated with interpersonal closeness of dyads; *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001.

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    Figure 5.

    Frontal IBS in the θ band can effectively predict interpersonal closeness. A, Regression predicted by SVR between real value and predict value. B, The r value is calculated as a metric of prediction interpersonal closeness. The significance level (threshold at p < 0.05) is calculated by comparing the r value from the correct labels (dotted line) with 10,000 randomization samples with shuffled labels (blue bars); ***p < 0.001.

Tables

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    Table 1

    Speakers’ comprehension test score

    Speaker numberHappyNeutralSadAverage score
    10112131011.67
    10211211816.67
    10321182521.33
    10416162017.33
    10519102518.00
    10618171215.67
    10725232624.67
    10820161216.00
    10918191517.33
    11010191113.33
    • The rater has included an overall comprehension level out of 10 and the total score for each subject was out of 30.

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    Table 2

    PLV at different regions and in the θ band between happy and sad group (FDR corrected)

    ROIsPLV of the happy group (mean ± SD)PLV of the sad group (mean ± SD)tddfp (corrected)
    F0.32 ± 0.100.21 ± 0.093.221.14300.009
    FC0.47 ± 0.090.45 ± 0.150.470.17300.960
    P0.35 ± 0.090.32 ± 0.110.810.29300.854
    Right TP0.01 ± 0.050.00 ± 0.090.390.14300.839
    Left TP0.39 ± 0.100.27 ± 0.083.871.36300.006
    O0.02 ± 0.100.01 ± 0.050.940.11300.752
    • F, frontal site; FC, frontal-central site; P, parietal site; right TP, right temporoparietal site; left TP, left temporoparietal site; O, occipital site.

Extended Data

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  • Extended Data 1

    The code used in the study. Download Extended Data 1, ZIP file.

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eneuro: 8 (6)
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November/December 2021
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Sharing Happy Stories Increases Interpersonal Closeness: Interpersonal Brain Synchronization as a Neural Indicator
Enhui Xie, Qing Yin, Keshuang Li, Samuel A. Nastase, Ruqian Zhang, Ning Wang, Xianchun Li
eNeuro 8 November 2021, 8 (6) ENEURO.0245-21.2021; DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0245-21.2021

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Sharing Happy Stories Increases Interpersonal Closeness: Interpersonal Brain Synchronization as a Neural Indicator
Enhui Xie, Qing Yin, Keshuang Li, Samuel A. Nastase, Ruqian Zhang, Ning Wang, Xianchun Li
eNeuro 8 November 2021, 8 (6) ENEURO.0245-21.2021; DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0245-21.2021
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Keywords

  • emotion
  • interpersonal brain synchronization
  • interpersonal closeness
  • sharing stories

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