An fNIRS hyperscanning dataset on the modulation of synchrony by social relationship during social touch
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Social touch from a loved one can effectively buffer stress, an effect modulated by the nature of the social relationship. However, the neural mechanisms underlying this modulation, particularly the dynamics between interacting brains, remain poorly understood due to a lack of suitable open data. To address this, we present a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning dataset from 47 female dyads (24 friend pairs, 23 stranger pairs). During fNIRS recording of prefrontal cortex activity, dyads jointly viewed negative and neutral images under two conditions: a hand-holding (touch) condition and a no-touch condition. The dataset includes raw and preprocessed fNIRS data, trial-by-trial emotional valence and arousal ratings, and a comprehensive collection of trait- and state-based questionnaire data. Technical validation, including power spectral density analysis, confirms that our preprocessing pipeline effectively removed artifacts and noise, yielding high-quality signals. This rich, multi-modal dataset is publicly available on the Open Science Framework and provides a unique resource for investigating how social relationships shape the neurobehavioral dynamics of social support, particularly through the lens of inter-brain synchrony.
