Asymmetry and Reciprocity in Hyperscanning Psychotherapy

Hinrichs, Nicolás and Senatore, Irene and Figueiredo, Nara and Cuffari, Elena and Fábregas-Tejeda, Alejandro (2025) Asymmetry and Reciprocity in Hyperscanning Psychotherapy. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Hyperscanning has been increasingly used to quantify the quality of social relationships by tracking the neural correlates of interpersonal interactions. This paper critically examines the use of hyperscanning to track the neural correlates of psychotherapeutic change, e.g., the patient-therapist relationship. First, we motivate our project by diagnosing a lack of complex models in this domain and, looking for the causes of this issue, we highlight the epistemic blindspots of current methodologies that prioritize neural synchrony as a marker of therapeutic success. Drawing on empirical studies and theoretical frameworks, we identify an asymmetry between the neural and behavioral conceptual toolkits, with the latter remaining underdeveloped. We argue that this imbalance stems from two key issues: the underdetermined qualitative interpretation of brain data and the neglect of strong reciprocity in neuroscientific second-person paradigms. In light of our critical analysis, we suggest that further research should address the complexity of reciprocal, dynamic interactions in therapeutic contexts. Specifically, drawing on enactivism, we highlight that the autonomy of interactions is one of the factors that undermines the synchrony paradigm. This approach emphasizes the co-construction of meaning and shared experiences through embodied, reciprocal interactions, offering a more integrative understanding of therapeutic change that accounts for neural correlates of the emergent and dynamic nature of social cognition.

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Creators	Email	ORCID
Hinrichs, Nicolás	hinrichsn@cbs.mpg.de	0000-0003-4969-9644
Senatore, Irene	irene.senatore@student.hu-berlin.de	0009-0008-0591-4369
Figueiredo, Nara	nara.figueiredo@ufsm.br	0000-0003-0270-7467
Cuffari, Elena	elena.cuffari@fandm.edu	0000-0001-5714-3297
Fábregas-Tejeda, Alejandro	alejandro.fabregastejeda@kuleuven.be	0000-0002-1797-5467