Speaker-listener Neural Coupling Underlies Successful Communication Greg J. Stephens, Lauren J. Silbert, and Uri Hasson (2010)

Communication involves both speaking and listening. Traditional research has studied these processes separately within individual brains. This study examines brain activity in speakers and listeners during natural conversation, revealing coupled neural responses that correlate with effective communication.

Abstract

Verbal communication is a joint activity; however, speech production and comprehension have primarily been analyzed as independent processes within the boundaries of individual brains.

Here, we applied fMRI to record brain activity from both speakers and listeners during natural verbal communication. We used the speaker’s spatiotemporal brain activity to model listeners’ brain activity and found that the speaker’s activity is spatially and temporally coupled with the listener’s activity.

This coupling vanishes when participants fail to communicate. Moreover, though on average the listener’s brain activity mirrors the speaker’s activity with a delay, we also find areas that exhibit predictive anticipatory responses.

We connected the extent of neural coupling to a quantitative measure of story comprehension and find that the greater the anticipatory speaker-listener coupling, the greater the understanding.

We argue that the observed alignment of production- and comprehension-based processes serve as a mechanism by which brains convey information.

Authors

Greg J. Stephens, Lauren J. Silbert, and Uri Hasson

Paper

• Speaker-listener neural coupling underlies successful communication

Resources

• Nature: Measuring speaker-listener neural coupling with functional near-infrared spectroscopy
• Wired Magazine: Good connection really does lead to mind meld
• Psychology Today: Why Sharing Stories Brings People Together

Societal Knowledge Management

Systems Leadership for Sustainable Development

•  The Neuroscience of Conversation Conversations trigger changes in the brain