Brain Synchronisation – the Magic Sauce for Team Performance?
Inter-brain synchronisation correlates with many positive things including team performance
I have focused previously on some aspects of team performance such as the underrated high performer. But in this I look at the collective and how the little-known aspect of inter-brain synchronisation which leads to high performing teams. But is this all, and is this true for sports teams as well as business teams?
To be on the same wavelength is a term that is often used to describe how some people get along intangibly. And research over the years has shown that this is, indeed, precisely what is happening – people who get on well together, and the closer the friend, do indeed have the same wavelengths. Specifically, their brains’ synchronise in what is termed inter-brain, or brain-to-brain, synchrony.
In this state people’s brains will follow similar patterns. Brain waves in different regions and across different frequencies will synchronise and follow similar modulations, humming along as if magically interconnected as one unit.
This is an observation that matches other metrics. Friends when they sit together often mirror each other’s body posture and when people watch a film together their heartbeat tend to synchronize also. But not only do brains synch up, which is obvious, or amazing, or both at the same time, but the level of synchrony predicts many things.
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