Neural synchrony is not unique to romantic bonds

Abstract

Prior research suggests that romantic couples exhibit heightened inter-brain neural synchrony (INS) compared with other close relationships. However, because couples typically spend more time together and share living environments, elevated INS may reflect social proximity and accumulated shared experience rather than romantic attachment. The present study tested these theories by comparing romantic couples with roommates who share sustained cohabitation and interaction but lack a romantic bond. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded from 72 participants (20 couples, 16 roommate pairs) while they viewed positive, negative, and neutral emotionally evocative films. INS was quantified using the Phase Lag Index (PLI) across four frequency bands and 12 regions of interest (ROIs). PLI did not differ between couples and roommates across any frequency band, ROI, or emotional condition, and relationship satisfaction was not associated with PLI. Greater emotional similarity was associated with higher beta-band PLI among roommates during negative emotional processing. Longer relationship duration was associated with higher theta-band PLI in both groups, although in different ROIs and emotional conditions. These findings suggest that neural synchrony may reflect accumulated shared experience rather than relationship category, reframing INS as a consequence of two brains repeatedly inhabiting the same world.

Brain-to-brain synchrony during shared reminiscing predicts connection and memory in romantic couples
J. Park, L. Emery, Y. C. Leong
bioRxiv11 Sep 2026PreprintCC BY-NC-NDFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv
The Choreography of Coupled Brains: Coordinated Movement and Multi-Scale Neural Synchrony in Musical Theater for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities
Z. Moore, N. Tasnim, R. Frank +8
bioRxiv31 Aug 2026PreprintAll rights reservedFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv
The mentalizing network updates neural representations of romantic interest in response to social feedback
Benjamin Silver, Christopher Baldassano, Lila Davachi +1
OSF Preprints3 Sep 2026PreprintCC0Full textNeuroscienceOSF
Loss contexts enhance dorsolateral prefrontal interpersonal neural synchrony during successful human deceptive recommendations
Yaozhong Liu, Rui Huang, Xiaowei Gao +5
Communications Biology1 Jun 2026Peer-reviewedCC BYFull textGeneral biologyDOAJ
Left Temporoparietal Neural Synchrony Tracks Cooperative Performance Across Adult Dyads
A. Carollo, R. Cavallaro, A. Bizzego +3
bioRxiv20 Oct 2026PreprintCC BYFull textNeurosciencebioRxiv

Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{allahdad2026neural,
  title = {{Neural synchrony is not unique to romantic bonds}},
  author = {Niayesh Allahdad and Keva Klamer and Shaylyn Kress and Alireza Taheritorbati and joshua Craig and Jane O'Connor and Sabrina Werner and Jared Rollingson and Rylee Wevers and Taylor Casement},
  howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.31234/osf.io/ch3vx_v1},
  url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ch3vx_v1/},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Neural synchrony is not unique to romantic bonds
AU  - Niayesh Allahdad
AU  - Keva Klamer
AU  - Shaylyn Kress
AU  - Alireza Taheritorbati
AU  - joshua Craig
AU  - Jane O'Connor
AU  - Sabrina Werner
AU  - Jared Rollingson
AU  - Rylee Wevers
AU  - Taylor Casement
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/17
PB  - PsyArXiv
DO  - 10.31234/osf.io/ch3vx_v1
UR  - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ch3vx_v1/
AB  - Prior research suggests that romantic couples exhibit heightened inter-brain neural synchrony (INS) compared with other close relationships. However, because couples typically spend more time together and share living environments, elevated INS may reflect social proximity and accumulated shared experience rather than romantic attachment. The present study tested these theories by comparing romantic couples with roommates who share sustained cohabitation and interaction but lack a romantic bond. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded from 72 participants (20 couples, 16 roommate pairs) while they viewed positive, negative, and neutral emotionally evocative films. INS was quantified using the Phase Lag Index (PLI) across four frequency bands and 12 regions of interest (ROIs). PLI did not differ between couples and roommates across any frequency band, ROI, or emotional condition, and relationship satisfaction was not associated with PLI. Greater emotional similarity was associated with higher beta-band PLI among roommates during negative emotional processing. Longer relationship duration was associated with higher theta-band PLI in both groups, although in different ROIs and emotional conditions. These findings suggest that neural synchrony may reflect accumulated shared experience rather than relationship category, reframing INS as a consequence of two brains repeatedly inhabiting the same world.
ER  -

Abstract

Related

Cite