Emotions promote social interaction by synchronizing brain activity across individuals.

摘要: Sharing others’ emotional states may facilitate understanding their intentions and actions. Here we show that networks of brain areas “tick together” in participants who are viewing similar events a movie. Participants’ activity was measured with functional MRI while they watched movies depicting unpleasant, neutral, pleasant emotions. After scanning, the again continuously rated experience pleasantness–unpleasantness (i.e., valence) arousal–calmness. Pearson’s correlation coefficient used to derive multisubject voxelwise similarity measures [intersubject correlations (ISCs)] data. Valence arousal time series were predict moment-to-moment ISCs computed using 17-s moving average. During movie viewing, participants' synchronized lower- higher-order sensory corticolimbic emotion circuits. Negative valence associated increased ISC emotion-processing network (thalamus, ventral striatum, insula) default-mode (precuneus, temporoparietal junction, medial prefrontal cortex, posterior superior temporal sulcus). High somatosensory cortices visual dorsal attention comprising bilateral intraparietal sulci, frontal eye fields. Seed-voxel–based analysis confirmed these sets regions constitute dissociable, networks. We propose negative synchronizes individuals’ supporting sensations another’s actions, whereas high directs features environment. By enhancing synchrony across individuals, emotions promote social interaction interpersonal understanding.