Brain-to-brain synchrony is a mirroring of neural activity between individuals or even groups. According to a new study, such synchrony in spouses could affect how they respond to their children.

Atiqah Azhari from Nanyang University and colleagues investigated the response of couples with a “parenting response ratio”, which measured how often either the mother or father took the lead in different situations. Apparently, parents have more synchronised patterns of brain activity when they are together.

As anticipated, couples who were sat together showed greater brain synchrony than those who were separated. Interestingly, the synchrony appears only in case of real partners. The control pairs didn’t show any greater synchrony when together than when apart, suggesting that the presence of an intimate partner, rather than simply any other person, was key to enhancing synchrony.

Younger couples and couples with only one child had higher levels of synchrony compared to older couples. Older couples or those with multiple children were more experienced with parenting, and so their lower synchrony may “reflect a diminished need to respond similarly to each other as they experience greater security in their own roles as parents”, the authors write.

The study was published in Scientific Reports.