RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Experience-Dependent Counselor-Client Brain Synchronization during Psychological Counseling
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0236-20.2020
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0236-20.2020
VO 7
IS 5
A1 Ya Zhang
A1 Tian Meng
A1 Yaxi Yang
A1 Yi Hu
YR 2020
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/7/5/ENEURO.0236-20.2020.abstract
AB The role of the counselor’s experience in building an alliance with the clients remains controversial. Recently, the expanding nascent studies on interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) on human subjects have hinted at the possible neural substrates underlying the relationship qualities between the counselor-client dyads. Our study assessed the clients’ self-report working alliance (WA) as well as simultaneously measured IBS by fNIRS in 14 experienced versus 16 novice counselor-client dyads during the first integrative-orientation psychological counseling session. We observed that synchronous brain activity patterns were elicited from the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) across counselor-client dyads. Furthermore, such IBS, together with alliance quality, was especially evident when counselors had more psychotherapy experience. Time-lagged counselor-client brain synchronization might co-vary with the alliance (goal component) when the client’s brain activity preceded that of the counselor. These findings favor the notion that the IBS between counselor-client associated with the WA is an experience-dependent phenomenon, suggesting that a potential adaptive mechanism is embedded in psychological counseling.