It’s crucial for healthy child development that children can form secure attachment bonds with their parents. Decades of research identified one key ingredient for this process: the coordination of parents’ and children’s brains and behaviour during social interactions.
Humans connect with each other by synchronising in many ways. Called bio-behavioural synchrony, this involves imitation of gestures and the alignment of heartbeats and hormone secretion (like cortisol and oxytocin). Even brains can synchronise – with brain activity decreasing and increasing in the same areas at roughly the same time when we spend time with others.
