Interpersonal neural synchrony and conscientiousness in dyads during goal-oriented tasks

• Greater similarity of conscientiousness scores in dyads is associated with greater interpersonal neural synchrony while completing a goal-oriented task (Frontiers brief report).¹
• Relevant for hyperscanning and group neural metrics; human neuroscience, tier-2.^{1 1}

Weekly enrichment (2026-07-20)

• The primary source is Stoyanova et al. (2025), a Frontiers in Human Neuroscience brief report from a University of Northampton / University of Bath group, on personality-trait similarity and interbrain synchrony.^{2 3}
• The study used EEG hyperscanning: 23 female dyads each wore lightweight EEG headsets while completing a goal-oriented social task during naturalistic dialogue.^{2 3}
• Personality was measured with a Big Five questionnaire, and trait similarity was operationalized as the absolute difference in each dyad’s scores on each of the five scales.^{2 3}
• Interpersonal neural synchrony was quantified with Dynamic Time Warping applied to a time-frequency decomposition of each pair’s EEG signals.^{2 3}
• The main finding is that greater similarity in Conscientiousness scores significantly predicted higher interpersonal neural synchrony within dyads.^{2 3}
• Openness similarity showed only a marginal association, and none of the other three Big Five traits (extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism) predicted synchrony.^{2 3}
• The authors interpret conscientiousness similarity as reflecting shared thinking and behavior, describing a trait-based pathway through which social alignment emerges during interaction.^{2 3}
• As a brief report with 23 same-sex (female) dyads, the sample is small and single-sex, so generalization across sexes and larger samples remains untested (a limitation implied by the design).^{2 3}
• Practical relevance: findings suggest pairing collaborators with similar conscientiousness could foster coordination, informing hyperscanning-based metrics of team or group neural coupling.^{2 3}
• Context: a related 2026 fNIRS hyperscanning study of 33 mother–child dyads found maternal neuroticism (not similarity) drove synchrony in a context-dependent way, underscoring that trait–synchrony links vary by paradigm and population.⁴

Footnotes

1. https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMinAFBVV95cUxNQk1BRDZXa3k0MTBFZktmYTB0QUZpQ3JqcWd6MGRFZy1WdjhKSnc0dDhJLVBJeFNERHAtSnM0RjFEZlVTWVdJYnhPT21UMElxNmpVNW5GQkFIMlBBZjd5VnhaWlROTTJEb0dTM3RaZk9QSk1yX0RvaUFZbU42SDBmLWdscnJZdGRqZ1dhV1puSEhYYkVSS2tLUThaVmw?oc=5 ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1622203/full ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. https://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/id/eprint/20750/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

4. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.25.714118v1.full-text ↩