The emerging frontier of interpersonal communication and neuroscience: scanning the social synapse

ABSTRACT Humans are inherently social, driven to communicate and build relationships with one another. The question of how messages between people create shared understanding lies at the core of interpersonal communication. Relatedly, neuroscience scholars are beginning to investigate how dyads, i.e. two socially interacting brains, produce this shared understanding. Here, we argue that interpersonal communication has much to contribute to this rapidly growing area within neuroscience, while also benefiting from adopting neuroscientific approaches. We illustrate what such research looks like using reactance as a case example. While we are optimistic that neuroscientific research into interpersonal communication processes will grow and yield new insights into communication processes, we will also discuss challenges and potential misunderstandings that researchers may encounter.