Recruiting

Brain Interaction

Sponsor:

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Code:

NCT07385027

Conditions

Brain to Brain Communication

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 20 - 60

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this observational study is to investigate how brains of healthy controls respond when they interact with their romantic partner compared to when they interact with a stranger. The main goals are:

  • Explore how two people's brains interact with each other by recording brain activity at the same time (a method called "hyperscanning") using electroencephalography (EEG). Using hyperscanning, this study will compare brain-to-brain communication in romantic couples versus strangers, both when they are together in person and when they are interacting remotely.
  • Test a computational model that will help explain how this brain-to-brain communication works, using real data from the brain activity EEG recordings.
  • Explore whether factors such as age, gender, how aware people are of their own body sensations, and their level of attachment influence brain-to-brain communication.

Researchers will compare brain-to-brain communication in romantic couples versus strangers, both when they are together in person and when they are interacting remotely to see which factors effect brain-to-brain communication.

Enrolled participants will:

  • Complete a consent visit with their romantic partner where they will sign a consent form and have their pain sensitivity assessed.
  • Fill out sets of questionnaires assessing their romantic relationship, their personality, and other traits.
  • Complete two EEG scans, one with their romantic partner and one with a stranger. At both scans they will conduct a pain task, a communication task, and a light stimulation task.

Conditions

Brain to Brain Communication

Study ID

NCT07385027

Start date

Dec 12, 2025

Status verified date

Jan, 2026

Completion date

Mar, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 20 - 60

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria

1. Healthy volunteers in a romantic partnership for at least 6 months.
2. 20-60 years of age
3. Ability to fully understand and consent to study procedures.
4. Fluent in English
5. Are on stable doses of medication for 30 days prior to entering the study and agree not to change medications or dosages during the trial.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Presence of any contraindications to EEG scanning.
2. Illicit drug or opioid use.
3. Epilepsy, seizures provoked by lights or a prior history of seizures.
4. Presence of any illness that is judged to interfere with the trial. For example: severe psychiatric disorders according to the DSM-IV manual.
5. Current chronic pain conditions.
6. Unwillingness to be audio recorded.
7. Unwillingness to receive brief experimental pain on the lower left leg.
8. Unwillingness to withhold from consuming marijuana 48 hours prior to scans.
9. Unwillingness to withhold from consuming nicotine 4 hours prior to scans.
10. Any impairment, activity, or situation that in the judgment of the Study Coordinator or Principal Investigator would prevent satisfactory completion of the study protocol.

Study Design

Enrollment

40 participants

Anticipated

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

Romantic Pair

Two people involved in a romantic relationship for longer than 1 year.

This is a cross-sectional study in which every subject will complete the experiment in both conditions, once with their romantic pair, and once with a randomly assigned stranger. Therefore, participants will complete one EEG with their romantic pair, and one EEG with a stranger. The order of the EEG scans and the cross-over will be randomized.

Stranger Pair

Two people who have never seen each other before the EEG visit.

This is a cross-sectional study in which every subject will complete the experiment in both conditions, once with their romantic pair, and once with a randomly assigned stranger. Therefore, participants will complete one EEG with their romantic pair, and one EEG with a stranger. The order of the EEG scans and the cross-over will be randomized.

Primary outcome measure

  • Inter-Brain Connectivity (IBC) [ Time Frame: 1 year ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Lara Gardiner

617-952-6483lgardiner1@mgb.org

Alessandra Anzolin, PhD

aanzolin@mgh.harvard.edu

Locations

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Recruiting

Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States, 02129

Contacts

Lara Gardiner

617-952-6483lgardiner1@mgb.org

Alessandra Anzolin, PhD

aanzolin@mgh.harvard.edu

Principal Investigator:

Alessandra Anzolin, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Last update posted

Feb 3, 2026

Last verified

Jan, 2026

Keywords

  • Hyperscanning
  • EEG
  • Brain to Brain Communication
  • Healthy Control

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital on 2026-02-03.