Learning with others: teacher-learner brain synchrony depends on mutual gaze and joint attention.

ABSTRACT: Successful learning often emerges through social interaction: what are the neural and behavioral systems that support this process? This ecological, multimodal study combines functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning with detailed behavioral and physiological measures in 27 unconstrained social learning interactions. Learning was supported by teacher-learner interbrain synchrony (interpersonal neural synchrony), over regions important for mutual understanding (temporoparietal junction) and communicative coordination (ventral premotor cortex). Joint attention and mutual gaze modulated the interpersonal neural synchrony-learning association in oppositive ways, motivating a dual-process model: during knowledge-building phases, learning is supported by informational uptake dynamic, w

SUBMITTER: De Felice S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12667270 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature