Strangers, Friends, and Lovers Show Different Physiological Synchrony in Different Emotional States.

Andrea Bizzego,Peipei Setoh,Giulio Gabrieli,Marc H Bornstein,Atiqah Azhari,Gianluca Esposito,Anna Truzzi,Li Ying Ng,Nicola Campostrini

doi:10.3390/bs10010011

Abstract

The mere copresence of another person synchronizes physiological signals, but no study has systematically investigated the effects of the type of emotional state and the type of relationship in eliciting dyadic physiological synchrony. In this study, we investigated the synchrony of pairs of strangers, companions, and romantic partners while watching a series of video clips designed to elicit different emotions. Maximal cross-correlation of heart rate variability (HRV) was used to quantify dyadic synchrony. The findings suggest that an existing social relationship might reduce the predisposition to conform one’s autonomic responses to a friend or romantic partner during social situations that do not require direct interaction.

Highlights

As social mammals, humans need to bond with others in order to initiate and maintain social relationships
We focused on the investigation of the physiological synchrony between the dyads and in particular on the effects of the different type of relationships on the synchrony associated to the stimulus and to the copresence
Our study systematically investigated how physiological synchrony occurs in the copresence of dyads who are romantic couples, friends, or strangers when induced with different emotional states

Summary

Introduction

Humans need to bond with others in order to initiate and maintain social relationships. Fostering of affiliation in a shared environment requires the alignment of higher-order emotional states of both members of the dyad. The mutual attunement and adaptation of these emotional states between partners [1], can be reflected at the physiological level in the parameters of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) [2,3]. Reference [4] showed that imitating the facial expressions of a randomly paired stranger increased the synchrony of heart rate patterns in both members of a dyad. Autonomic synchrony in pairs of strangers was correlated with an enhanced ability to complete collaborative tasks [4,5]. The primary function of the ANS and its two divisions (i.e., parasympathetic and sympathetic branches) is to maintain homeostasis in the individual

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