# Interpersonal behavioral synchrony in virtual and in-person dyadic conversation

> **NIH NIH R34** · ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI · 2024 · $364,647

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Human dyadic social communication entails a rich repertoire of expression, including not only face expression
(and gaze), but also acoustics (prosody and pauses) turn-taking, gestures and language. Communication has
evolved in humans within a social context, beginning with the parent-infant dyad, with mirroring of facial
expressions and sounds. Its natural ecology is face-to-face dyadic interactions, both in-person and increasingly
via remote platforms for teleconferencing and telehealth. Social communication is a “complex orchestration” in
real time: its signals are multiple and temporally offset. It is a continuous exchange that is highly coordinated
between speakers, with norms for turn-taking and alignment of face expression, gesture, semantic content and
speech rates. As yet, a critical gap exists in that we lack the tools to quantify and analyze temporal patterns of
multimodal communication behavior between two individuals in face-to-face communication, in an ecologically
valid setting, that have the same rigor and reproducibility as do hyperscanning approaches to record brain activity
during dyadic conversation. This tool must be developed to realize the true potential of second-person
neuroscience. This planning proposal for tool development entails several key activities, beginning with the
convening of a diverse multidisciplinary team of experts from various fields, including ethics/regulatory,
anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, computer science, engineering, physics, mathematics, psychiatry and
neurology. This team will discuss ethics, diversity, paradigm development, and computational frameworks, and
providing iterative feedback and convening also with advocacy groups. Also, we will build two testing rooms for
multimodal recording of dyadic communication, to demonstrate feasibility of acquiring and synching high
temporal resolution data. Pilot EEG hyperscanning will be done concurrently in a subcohort. Further, given
increased use of teleconferencing, dyadic communication data will be collected via remote platform and
compared with in-person data, to determine how information may be degraded by differences in resolution and
streaming delays. We will also develop computational frameworks for analyses of multimodal data.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10797870
- **Project number:** 1R34DA059716-01
- **Recipient organization:** ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
- **Principal Investigator:** CHERYL MARY CORCORAN
- **Activity code:** R34 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $364,647
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-15 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10797870

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10797870, Interpersonal behavioral synchrony in virtual and in-person dyadic conversation (1R34DA059716-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10797870. Licensed CC0.

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