Hyperscanning and the Future of Neurosociology

Abstract

Because all aspects of social life have a mental component, sociology’s focus is not society alone but mind and society. Insofar as mind is an emergent level of brainwork, the description and measurement of mindwork amidst social interaction can be accomplished by neurometric measurement methodology. The authors’ topic, hyperscanning, involves the simultaneous recording of either hemodynamic or neuroelectric measurement of brain activity in two (or more) interacting individuals. The authors consider two hyperscanning methods, functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography (EEG). Although functional magnetic resonance imaging provides excellent spatial resolution of brain-region activation, the temporal resolution of EEG is unmatched. EEG’s low spatial resolution has been overcome by low-resolution electromagnetic tomography. Hyperscanning studies show that interpersonal coordination of action includes mutual entrainment or synchronization of neural dynamics, flow of information between brains, and causal effects of one brain upon another with respect to social-signaling processes involving fairness, reciprocity, trust, competition, cooperation, and leadership.