How strong can the emotional connection between two people be? A recent study published in the journal Neuroimage explored how the quality of a relationship between partners is reflected in the synchronization of their emotions and brain activity. The findings reveal surprising insights into why romantic couples understand each other differently than friends—and what happens in the brain when a relationship struggles.
Emotions are a key component of human relationships. The study focused on differences in emotional synchronization between romantic couples and close friends. The authors used the method of electroencephalographic (EEG) hyperscanning, which allows for simultaneous measurement of the brain activity of two people.
Participants watched emotionally charged video clips one by one, without directly communicating, seeing, or hearing each other. This setup allowed researchers to examine natural coordination, with EEG recordings taken continuously. Selected clips were 1–2 minutes long from films of various genres, aiming to elicit specific emotional responses—for example, Bambi (sadness), The Ring (fear), Tom and Jerry (joy).
After each video, participants rated their feelings on a scale of 0–8 for each of six specified emotions (sadness, anger, fear, joy, happiness, disgust). Results showed that romantic couples exhibited significantly higher levels of behavioral and neural (prefrontal) alpha synchronization than friends. In other words, partners' brains were more “in sync” than those of close friends. Synchronization in alpha frequencies is associated with emotional regulation and coordination.
An interesting finding was that relationship quality plays a crucial role in the degree of synchronization. Couples with lower relationship quality required a higher degree of internal (brain) synchronization to achieve comparable external (behavioral) alignment.
In other words, when a relationship is not functioning optimally, the brain must "work harder" to maintain a shared emotional wavelength. This suggests that the brain acts as a kind of stabilizer during relational challenges.
Using machine learning algorithms (support vector machine analysis), the researchers were able to reliably distinguish couples from friends based on brain signals. The main difference lay in activity within the frontal cortex, which is responsible for emotion control and processing.
The study's results suggest that romantic relationships are not just about feelings—they are also about how our brains collaborate. Emotional synchronization is both an expression of closeness and a tool for maintaining harmony, especially when a relationship faces difficulties. These findings have practical applications in couples therapy and open the door to a better understanding of relationship dynamics and new therapeutic approaches.
Editorial Team, Medscope.pro
Source: Chen Y., Liu S., Hao Y. Higher emotional synchronization is modulated by relationship quality in romantic relationships and not in close friendships. Neuroimage 2024; 297 : 120733, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120733.
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