# Brain-to-brain dynamical Coupling: A New framework for the communication of social knowledge

> **NIH NIH R01** · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $485,047

## Abstract

Project Summary
Social interaction in real-life contexts necessitates dynamical interactions among two or more brains as
individuals listen, speak, act, and mutually adapt to one another to reach shared understanding. Elucidating
how brains forge such shared understanding requires shifting from a “one-brain” to a “multiple-brain” frame of
reference, as well as from artificial laboratory conditions to natural, real-life settings. Here we outline a novel
framework to identify inter-brain dynamical coupling that underpins knowledge about social phenomena (e.g.,
mental states, social norms, emotions, etc.), henceforth referred to as "social knowledge". The long-term goal
of our laboratories is to understand how neural networks couple, within and across brains, to create and share
information that enables social understanding and connectedness. We intend to develop a novel brain-to-brain
coupling framework to better understand how social concepts are represented in the brain and how they are
transferred across brains to achieve group cohesiveness. The overall objective of this application is to identify
mechanisms that facilitate coupling across a speaker and a listener during real–life interaction. This approach
is innovative because it uses new experimental paradigms optimize for studying social interactions in
naturalistic contexts, employs both fMRI and fNIRS methods (single scanning and hyperscanning), and
includes development of novel analysis methods for modeling shared brain responses to complex, natural
social stimuli in real-life contexts. This contribution is significant because the proposed research will provide
new insights into a central function of the human brain: the ability to connect with others by dynamically and
interactively creating and sharing social knowledge. The work proposed in this application will advance
knowledge of how brains process and share information in ways that promote social understanding and will
produce new approaches for detecting and diagnosing communication and developmental disorders.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10144021
- **Project number:** 5R01MH112566-05
- **Recipient organization:** PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Uri Hasson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $485,047
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10144021

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10144021, Brain-to-brain dynamical Coupling: A New framework for the communication of social knowledge (5R01MH112566-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10144021. Licensed CC0.

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