How a speaker herds the audience: multibrain neural convergence over time during naturalistic storytelling.

Publication Year
2024

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

Storytelling-an ancient way for humans to share individual experiences with others-has been found to induce neural alignment among listeners. In exploring the dynamic fluctuations in listener-listener (LL) coupling throughout stories, we uncover a significant correlation between LL coupling and lagged speaker-listener (lag-SL) coupling over time. Using the analogy of neural pattern (dis)similarity as distances between participants, we term this phenomenon the "herding effect." Like a shepherd guiding a group of sheep, the more closely listeners mirror the speaker's preceding brain activity patterns (higher lag-SL similarity), the more tightly they cluster (higher LL similarity). This herding effect is particularly pronounced in brain regions where neural alignment among listeners tracks with moment-by-moment behavioral ratings of narrative content engagement. By integrating LL and SL neural coupling, this study reveals a dynamic, multibrain functional network between the speaker and the audience, with the unfolding narrative content playing a mediating role in network configuration.

Journal
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience
Volume
19
Issue
1
Date Published
09/2024
ISSN Number
1749-5024
Alternate Journal
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci
PMCID
PMC11421471
PMID
39223692
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