Is the creativity of lovers better? A behavioral and functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning study

Abstract

Love is an innate human emotion and an eternal theme in artistic and scientific works. However, the question of how love affects people’s behavior and the underlying neural mechanisms remains unanswered. This study examined the performance of lovers while solving group creative tasks and revealed the cognitive neural mechanisms of this process. We used a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning approach to measure simultaneously interpersonal brain synchronization in lover dyads and stranger (heterosexual) dyads during the realistic presented problem (RPP) task. The behavioral results found that originality and fluency in the lover dyads were significantly higher than in the stranger dyads. Moreover, compared to the stranger group, the behavioral index of cooperation was significantly higher in the lover dyads. Significantly increased interpersonal brain synchronization was observed at the frontopolar cortex (FPC) and right temporo- parietal (rTPJ) junction when the lover group was solving the RPP task. Furthermore, in the lover group, interpersonal brain synchronization was positively correlated with cooperation performance and RPP originality. These data indicate that lovers had more advantages in interaction and cooperation, and this contributed to the solving of group creative problems. Our findings provide the first cognitive neuroscience evidence for how romantic relationships affect creativity.