YaleNews: When Yale neuroscientist Joy Hirsch used sophisticated imaging tools to track in real time the brain activity of two people engaged in conversation, she discovered an intricate choreography of neural activity in areas of the brain that govern social interactions. When she performed similar experiments with two people talking on Zoom, the ubiquitous video conferencing platform, she observed a much different neurological landscape.
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This seems like a really interesting idea to research and study. I wonder how the Yale neuroscientist came up with this idea. In general, I feel like the neural activity in our brains is such a wild and fun concept to explore, so I enjoy learning new things about it. I did not know that there was such an intricate choreography of activity that occurs in our brains when we hold conversations, and I would never think that technology like Zoom would affect that. It makes sense that you have more face-processing ability in-person than online, but it still seems very surprising and almost worrisome to know this. I wonder what effect Zoom will have on people overtime. I also wonder how many more forms of communication are suppressing our neural activity and weakening our social abilities. I hope that we will find ways to combat this and work more face-to-face time into our society, especially for young kids. It is extremely important for them to grow up with the proper social abilities.
Remembering Zoom school is indeed a triggering experience for many of us who endured it. The abrupt shift from in-person learning to virtual classrooms brought about an array of emotions and challenges. It forced students and educators to adapt rapidly and embrace an entirely new way of learning, all while dealing with the isolation and technical issues that came with it. This article underscores the importance of acknowledging the unique struggles and opportunities that this period brought to education. It is a testament to the resilience of students and teachers who navigated this uncharted territory, all while uncovering new ways to engage, connect, and educate. As we continue to embrace technology in education, it's essential to reflect on our experiences with platforms like Zoom, understanding the role they played in our learning journey. These reflections can serve as valuable insights for shaping the future of education, ensuring it remains adaptable, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of all learners.
This is one of the very sad realities of a post-COVID world. We have all grown quite accustomed to Zoom due to its necessity that arose during the pandemic and lockdown. But because we have grown accustomed to it, we have also grown accustomed to lowered social interactions, both in quantity and quality. I personally have noted how checked-out I feel during Zoom calls, meetings, and even Zoom gatherings (which happened far more during the pandemic than present day). I think this is also linked to the increase of depression that has clearly been a lasting result of the pandemic. Less social interaction, according to this article/study, physically changes us. Being away from human interaction for such extended periods of time is a detriment to our health in the long run. The lockdowns were necessary, but these are repercussions we will have to deal with for years to come.
I found the article to be very interesting, I have always wondered if online face to face communication was different in our brains than in person communication. The results of this study prove that it is. Yale neuroscientist Joy Hirsch used imagining software to track live brain activity while a participant was engaging in a 1 on 1 conversation in person and a 1 on 1 on zoom. In short, the results of the study show a significant decrease in brain activity while talking on zoom compared to in person. I find the results fascinating, however, I can not say I am surprised by them. When having a conversation in person the article says out brains engage in an intricate choreography in the area of the brain that governs social interaction. However when on zoom the neural activity seemed almost suppressed. My question is if brain activity on zoom is suppressed, why is that? Is it because it is on a laptop? Is it because it is on a laptop and everything is 2d? Why is that activity so suppressed?
It is very interesting having gone through Covid during my undergrad, and talking about it since then seems more and more that I am in the minority of people who actually liked it. I thought Zoom classes were less stressful and I feel like I was able to focus better during those Zoom sessions. Knowing that, it is interesting to see this Yale study and the correlation of quality of focus being higher when in person. I definitely think there is another piece of this that should talk about the material of what's being talked about. Most of my classes during that time were higher level math courses, and if I had to choose between a 200 person lecture hall or a zoom call, I would take the zoom call 10 times out of 10. I also wonder if in further studies of this behavior that they might look into how comfortable a person feels in a zoom call versus an in person conversation or class. I do think that can also play a part in how much a person is focused, meaning that introverts probably feel more comfortable in zoom calls and might therefore be more focused.
This study was quite interesting, everyone always says that virtual is not the same as in-person, and while this is true it, is often used to discredit working from home. However, very often the interactions possible through virtual means are more than sufficient. Granted they will never be the same as in person there are some things that you just can't replicate this so many senses other than just sight and hearing that you don't get when talking to someone online however this only really is an issue when forming relationships and talking to people for the sake of talking to people as opposed to trying to communicate points in a meeting or listen to a lecture that normally would just be 80 people in a lecture hall. Virtual formats have limitations but there are uses in places where the human part of the interaction is not necessarily all that important.
I never knew that there was a difference in brain activity in zoom versus in person. It was always harder for me to pay attention and easier to zone out on zoom- like how you can tune out background tv or music or noise playing. So it makes a lot of sense that there is actually a scientific difference in brain chemistry between these two platforms. However, there are also times where I can have just as an engaging and productive conversation on zoom as in person. So it is possible, it just takes more will power and interest. I thought it was also interesting how they sort of talked about active listening styles in the article- how talking face to face allows you to gauge their body language, natural social behaviors, and have more of a back to back conversation. This article also made me think about how covid for educational systems affected children and youth's ability to interact with others.
I mean, I am not a neuroscientist at Yale, but in a perhaps less specifically scientific way, I do know that having a conversation with somebody on Zoom sucks. It’s just not as engaging or fun, I always feel like I can never really get into the rhythm of the conversation, and I feel like I remember less stuff. It is certainly very convenient to have a Zoom meeting, since it cuts out transportation time and makes it possible to meet with people across the world, but often, it just sucks more. This was a really interesting article analyzing the brain differences between meetings in real life and meeting on Zoom, and it was fascinating to learn the science that essentially backs up the experience I have had in my life. The fact that literally, the conversation-related brainwave function is reduced really shows how Zoom meetings are just really bad meetings.
It seems to me pretty apparent why your brain would be more active during an in-person conversation, though I am glad they’ve been researching some of the drawbacks of Zoom and digital versus physical interactions. I wonder what about the interactions specifically impact which parts of our brains. It is clear though how unbelievably important it is to be around people and have face-to-face interactions. Even though sometimes zoom or calls are necessary, or sometimes seem ‘easier,’ they don’t feel nearly as real or impactful as a face-to-face interaction. During Covid it was rough for everyone, not being surrounded by anyone and being quite literally cut off from interactions like these, it definitely impacted social experiences for everybody, I think primarily in a negative light. I am eternally grateful that we are ‘back to normal’ after that experience. I think being around others, even when not engrossed in a deep conversation, is really important - often when thinking of things like this I think of how I love concerts, and the feeling of that as you feel so alive, to be surrounded by so many other people, most of whom you don’t know at all, but to share the experience you’re having and to all be so enthusiastic together rather than siting in your room listening to music - its so amazing. And I think this resonates similarly in live theater as well, the idea of a shared experience, or physically being near others and able to see spontaneous moments, is so important.
I am in a constant state of curiosity now of waiting to see different ways that the pandemic will affect the world we are living in and the generations that were very impressionable who were forced to zoom school. I think about at Carnegie where we have the huge loss of institutional knowledge even with being surrounded by faculty and staff that were fully present before the pandemic, but it is hard to remember thing that became so ingrained in what we did that it was almost unconscious. When I was working right after the pandemic started, my artistic director compared doing theatre to riding a bike but we all soon discovered that this was as far from the truth as possible. I find it interesting that the brain is more active during in-person encounters when compared to encounters that happen over zoom. I think we were all deprived of that human interaction that the in person are so exciting for the human brain.
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