REVIEW article
Front. Hum. Neurosci.
Sec. Interacting Minds and Brains
Volume 19 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2025.1627457
Environmental Effects on Inter-Brain Coupling: A Systematic Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1University College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2Yale University, New Haven, United States
- 3Givaudan UK Limited, Ashford, United Kingdom
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Introduction: Environmental factors play a critical role in shaping social interactions, and emerging evidence suggests they may also influence inter-brain coupling (IBC). The main purpose of this paper is to systematically review how environmental variables influence IBC during hyperscanning studies of social interactions. Additionally, this article provides an overview of the experimental protocols employed and identifies both opportunities and challenges within this evolving field.Method: Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted a systematic literature search in the PubMed and Scopus databases to identify relevant articles. Of the 106 articles initially identified, 7 met the inclusion criteria for this review. The selected articles are original research published up to October 2024, each employing hyperscanning techniques to observe IBC in response to manipulated environmental factors. Articles were excluded based on factors such as the absence of environmental manipulation or not measuring IBC as an outcome.Results: The findings reveal that IBC is significantly influenced by environmental factors such as interpersonal distance, background noise, virtual reality, and music. These factors modulate neural synchrony in brain regions critical for social cognition.Conclusions: The limited number of studies in this area reflects both the emerging nature of this research field and the challenges associated with experimental protocols and funding. Despite these limitations, this review underscores the crucial role of environmental factors in shaping IBC during social interactions. This growing field holds great potential for guiding the design of supportive social settings and targeted interventions that promote social cohesion and mental well-being.
Keywords: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)1, inter-brain coupling (IBC)2, Hyperscanning3, Environment4, Social neuroscience5, two-person neuroscience6, EEG7, neuroimaging8
Received: 12 May 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Leahy, Hirsch, Kontaris, Gunasekara1 and Tachtsidis. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Octavia Leahy, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.