DUET: A dual-scanner fMRI audio platform for causal studies of social communication

How does the emotional tone of our voice shape a partner’s feelings, speech, and brain during a live conversation? We link two MRI scanners with synchronized, low-latency audio, allowing two people to converse naturally between the scanners. By altering one partner’s emotional tone as they speak, we can causally test how it changes the other partner’s interaction, emotions, and brain activity.