The enhancement effect of social interaction on emotional contagion: an EEG-based hyperscanning study

Emotional contagion refers to the tendency for individuals to replicate the emotional states of others primarily within the context of social interactions. Prior research has focused on real-time emotional contagion during interpersonal communication. However, this study proposed that social interaction experiences might also play a role in promoting emotional contagion. To investigate this issue, the present study divided participants into the interactive group and the control group and conducted EEG-based hyperscanning to investigate the impact of interpersonal interaction experience on emotional contagion. Behavioral results indicated that individuals reported a greater psychological closeness to their partners after experiencing interaction. Additionally, the interactive group showed stronger emotional congruence between observers and senders. EEG results further demonstrated that inter-brain synchrony in the emotional contagion phase among the observer and sender of the interactive group was significantly higher than that of the control group, particularly in the negative emotions. This research suggests that social interaction experience may affect emotional contagion by altering the interpersonal states. It also adds to our understanding of how social interactions can shape our emotional experiences and emphasizes that interpersonal experiences might be a key factor in promoting emotional contagion.