Interbrain emotional connection during music performances is driven by physical proximity and individual traits.

Fiche publication

Date publication

novembre 2021

Journal

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

Auteurs

Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Dr PAZART Lionel , Pr HAFFEN Emmanuel , Pr MOULIN Thierry

Tous les auteurs :
Chabin T, Gabriel D, Comte A, Haffen E, Moulin T, Pazart L

Lien Pubmed

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34750828

Résumé

How musical emotions and the pleasure derived from music, regardless of the musical valence, can be shared between individuals is a fascinating question, and investigating it can shed light on the function of musical reward. We carried out our investigations in a natural setting during an international competition for orchestra conductors. Participants (n = 15) used a dedicated smartphone app to report their subjective emotional experiences in real time while we recorded their cerebral activity using electroencephalography and their electrodermal activity. The overall behavioral real-time behavioral ratings suggest a possible social influence on the reported and felt pleasure. The physically closer the participants, the more similar their reported pleasure. By calculating the interindividual cerebral coherence (n = 21 pairs), we showed that when people simultaneously reported either high or low pleasure, their cerebral activities were closer than for simultaneous neutral pleasure reports. Participants' skin conductance levels were also more coupled when reporting higher emotional degrees simultaneously. More importantly, the participants who were physically closer had higher cerebral coherence, but only when they simultaneously reported a high level of pleasure. We propose that emotional contagion and/or emotional resonance mechanisms could explain why a form of "emotional connecting force" arises between people during shared appraisal situations.