The enhancement effect of social interaction on emotional contagion: an
EEG-based hyperscanning study
- Hui Wang,
- Xiaolan Gao,
- Chuyan Xu,
- Wenfeng Chen
Abstract
Emotional contagion refers to the tendency for individuals to replicate
the emotional states of others primarily within the context of social
interactions. Prior research has focused on real-time emotional
contagion during interpersonal communication. However, this study
proposed that social interaction experiences might also play a role in
promoting emotional contagion. To investigate this issue, the present
study divided participants into the interactive group and the control
group and conducted EEG-based hyperscanning to investigate the impact of
interpersonal interaction experience on emotional contagion. Behavioral
results indicated that individuals reported a greater psychological
closeness to their partners after experiencing interaction.
Additionally, the interactive group showed stronger emotional congruence
between observers and senders. EEG results further demonstrated that
inter-brain synchrony in the emotional contagion phase among the
observer and sender of the interactive group was significantly higher
than that of the control group, particularly in the negative emotions.
This research suggests that social interaction experience may affect
emotional contagion by altering the interpersonal states. It also adds
to our understanding of how social interactions can shape our emotional
experiences and emphasizes that interpersonal experiences might be a key
factor in promoting emotional contagion.