Brain-to-brain synchrony between students and teachers predicts learning outcomes
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Summary: Little is known about the brain mechanisms that underpin how humans learn while interacting with one another in ecologically-valid environments (1-3). This is because cognitive neuroscientists typically measure one participant at a time in a highly constrained environment (e.g., inside a brain scanner). In the past few years, researchers have begun comparing brain responses across individuals (4-6) demonstrating that brain-to-brain synchrony can predict subsequent memory retention (7-9). Yet previous research has been constrained to non-interacting individuals. Surprisingly, the one study that was conducted in a group setting found that brain synchrony between students in a classroom predicted how engaged the students were, but not how much information they retained (10). This is unexpected because brain-to-brain synchrony is hypothesized to be driven, at least partially, by shared attention (11, 12), and shared attention has been shown to affect subsequent memory (13). Here we used EEG to simultaneously record brain activity from groups of four students and a teacher in a simulated classroom to investigate whether brain-to-brain synchrony, both between students and between the students and the teacher, can predict learning outcomes (Fig. 1A). We found that brain-to-brain synchrony in the Alpha band (8-12Hz) predicted students’ delayed memory retention. Further, moment-to-moment variation in alpha-band brain-to-brain synchrony discriminated between content that was retained or forgotten. Whereas student-to-student brain synchrony best predicted delayed memory retention at a zero time lag, student-to-teacher brain synchrony best predicted memory retention when adjusting for a ∼200 millisecond lag in the students’ brain activity relative to the teacher’s brain activity. These findings provide key new evidence for the importance of brain data collected simultaneously from groups of individuals in ecologically-valid settings. Highlights: Electroencephalogram (EEG) was concurrently recorded in a simulated classroom from groups of four students and a teacher. Alpha-band (8-12Hz) brain-to-brain synchrony predicted students’ performance in a delayed post-test. Moment-to-moment variation in alpha-band brain-to-brain synchrony indicated what specific information was retained by students. Whereas student-to-student brain synchrony best predicted learning at a zero time lag, student-to-teacher brain synchrony best predicted learning when adjusting for a ∼200 millisecond lag in the students’ brain activity relative to the teacher’s brain activity.
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Teacher-student DMN coupling occurs during teaching and learning in real-life and simulated classrooms.
“Several recent studies have identified teacher–student DMN coupling during teaching and learning in both real-life classrooms110,111 and simulated classrooms88,112–116.”
From The default mode network: where the idiosyncratic self meets the shared social world (2021) · cites this paper as [113]
Teacher-student neural coupling predicts student learning outcomes.
“Notably, teacher–student neural coupling predicts student learning outcomes88,110,113,114,116.”
From The default mode network: where the idiosyncratic self meets the shared social world (2021) · cites this paper as [113]
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The default mode network: where the idiosyncratic self meets the shared social world
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Teacher-student neural coupling during teaching and learning
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- Authors
- Davidesco, I., Laurent, E., Valk, H., West, T., Dikker, S., Milne, C., & Poeppel, D.
- Affiliations
- New York University (US)
- Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Davidesco, Ido
- Venue
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Publisher
- openRxiv
- Published
- 2019-05-21
- OpenAlex
- W3099677026
- Cited by
- 50
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 3
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1661016)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- brain-to-brain synchrony, joint attention, learning outcomes, memory retention, alpha band, teacher-student relationship, simulated classroom, ecological validity, delayed recall
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