RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Brain-to-brain coupling between instructors and learners discriminates between instructional approaches and predicts learning JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 704239 DO 10.1101/704239 A1 Yafeng Pan A1 Suzanne Dikker A1 Pavel Goldstein A1 Yi Zhu A1 Cuirong Yang A1 Yi Hu YR 2019 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/16/704239.abstract AB The neural mechanisms that support naturalistic learning via effective pedagogical approaches remain elusive. Here we use functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure brain activity from instructor-learner dyads simultaneously during naturalistic conceptual learning. Results show enhanced brain-to-brain coupling within learner-instructor dyads when the instructor use a scaffolding instruction. Such coupling enhancement is correlated with learning outcomes, and appears to be driven by specific scaffolding behaviors on the part of the instructors (e.g., asking guiding questions or providing hints). Those effects are absent when the instructors produce explanatory behaviors. Crucially, instructional approaches (scaffolding vs. explanation) can be successfully decoded based on brain-to-brain coupling, but not when using the same machine-learning techniques in a single-brain approach. These findings suggest that brain-to-brain coupling as a pedagogically informative measure tracks the naturalistic instructional process during instructor-learner interaction throughout constructive engagement, but not information clarification.