Mindfulness meditation enhances interbrain synchrony of adolescents when experiencing different emotions simultaneously

Abstract

Abstract Mindfulness is considered to benefit social behavior and interpersonal communication. However, the underlying neural mechanism has not been fully examined. This study aimed to explore how mindfulness practice affected the interbrain synchrony within adolescent peer dyads when sharing emotional experience together by using the electroencephalograph hyperscanning approach. Thirty adolescent dyads were randomly assigned to a mindfulness group or a non-mindfulness group. Mindfulness group performed a 20-min mindfulness exercise. Non-mindfulness group were instructed to rest. Simultaneously, electroencephalograph was recorded when they completed a picture-processing task. Phase-locking-value in the gamma band was used to calculate adolescent dyads’ brain-to-brain synchrony. Results showed that greater interbrain synchrony in the frontal region was observed when viewing different emotional stimuli together after the mindfulness than before the mindfulness in the mindfulness group. However, there was no significant difference in the interbrain synchrony in the non-mindfulness group. Moreover, greater interbrain synchrony was observed in the mindfulness group than in the non-mindfulness group after mindfulness or rest in the frontal region. However, there was no significant difference between the mindfulness and non-mindfulness group before mindfulness or rest. The findings are discussed in light of the broader theoretical questions of how mindfulness may promote interpersonal functioning from a psychophysiological perspective.