People tend to collaborate and communicate better when they are physically close —within socially acceptable limits— and can make eye contact. This finding comes from two neuroimaging experiments conducted in China, whose study was published in NeuroImage. Additionally, researchers observed greater synchronization in brain activity patterns in these situations.
The Importance of Communication
Communication is essential for humans. It offers a wide range of benefits, such as enabling the sharing of thoughts, ideas, and emotions, while fostering understanding and collaboration. It also serves as a foundation for relationships, helping to build trust, resolve conflicts, and express affection and support. Effective communication, in particular, facilitates learning and knowledge transfer, both of which are crucial for education and personal development.
In work environments, clear communication improves teamwork, boosts productivity, and encourages innovation, ensuring that everyone is aligned with goals and expectations. Moreover, it plays a vital role in society by enabling the exchange of cultural values, norms, and information necessary for social cohesion. Communication is also fundamental for mental health, providing a means to express feelings, seek help, and establish emotional connections with others.
Nonverbal communication, in particular, sets the tone for our social interactions as a whole. It can often override spoken words and give a completely new meaning to a conversation. A study conducted in the United States in 1973 is a good example of this: researchers hired an actor dressed in elegant clothing —and who carried an air of authority— to give a lecture. Despite the content making little sense, the actor, known as “Dr. Fox,” frequently made eye contact with the audience, which resulted in a positive reception both for him and the presentation itself. Similar situations are common in real life.
The Study’s Objective and the Use of fNIRS
As published in NeuroImage, the objectives of the team, which was led by researcher Xinyue Wang, were to explore neural activity during different communication tasks and determine how gaze direction and physical distance affect interactions between people. According to the researchers, previous studies have reported that any message is evaluated more favorably when there is more direct eye contact, meaning when individuals look at each other constantly. Similarly, close spatial distance suggests personality traits such as approachability and friendliness.
To monitor brain activity during the experiments, the team chose to employ Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). This neuroimaging technique measures changes in blood oxygen levels and blood volume in the brain using a near-infrared light beam. The required equipment is much more compact compared to other methods, making it more practical for various research tasks.
How the Experiments Were Conducted
The researchers conducted two experiments, both of which recruited young women as participants —108 in the first and 110 in the second— randomly distributed into pairs.
In the first experiment, participants were further separated into two random groups: one that would communicate while sitting 5.2 feet (approx. 1.6 meters) apart, in a distance commonly found in impersonal and commercial interactions (long-distance group), and another that would sit 2.6 ft (approx. 0.8 m) apart, in a distance more common in interactions between friends and acquaintances (short-distance group).
To establish a baseline, the researchers initially recorded the participants’ brain activity at rest, meaning they were not engaged in any activity. Next, they performed two communication tasks —one creative (thinking of unusual uses for an object) and one mundane (listing characteristics of everyday objects)— while fNIRS monitored their brain.
In the second experiment, participants were also separated into two groups. In both, the women in each pair sat 2.6 ft (0.8 m) apart. In the first of these divisions, they faced each other (direct gaze); in the second, they were positioned so that their gazes crossed at a 60° angle. The pairs performed the same communication tasks as in the first study and were instructed to maintain this gaze direction throughout the process.
Following the experimental sessions, participants assessed their emotional state before and after the activities. They also rated different aspects of the process and completed tests measuring their openness to experience (a personality trait) and preference for group work. The study authors, in turn, assessed the women’s performance on the communication tasks and combined the responses of each pair to calculate their cooperation index.
fNIRS Analysis Results
The fNIRS data analysis revealed greater synchronization of brain activity among participants who were closer together in the first experiment compared to those who sat farther apart. Additionally, they had a higher cooperation index and were more likely to generate a greater number of responses (greater fluency), which were also more original. On the other hand, there was greater diversity (i.e., flexibility) among the responses of the group sitting farther apart.
The results of the second experiment indicated that the group with the direct gaze showed a greater proclivity for cooperation (higher cooperation index) and offered more original responses (originality) compared to the group in which participants looked at each other at a 60° angle. The fNIRS data also pointed to greater synchronization in the brain activity of each pair during the tasks when they looked directly at each other —which was more evident during the creative communication task.
“The findings suggest that physical proximity and eye contact function as positive social cues, aligning the brains of interacting individuals and optimizing information transfer between brains —thereby improving communication outcomes,” the study authors concluded.
The research offers valuable insights into the effects of distance and gaze direction on communication quality. However, it is important to note that the participants in both experiments were exclusively young women. The results may vary in men, mixed-gender groups, and other age groups.
The article “Close spatial distance and direct gaze bring better communication outcomes and more intertwined neural networks” was written by researchers Xinyue Wang, Kelong Lu, Yingyao He, Zhenni Gao, and Ning Hao.
