Right brain intersubjectivity

Right-brain-to-right-brain intersubjectivity refers to a form of connection and mutual understanding that operates primarily through non-verbal, implicit, and emotional channels rather than through language and explicit reasoning.

This concept draws heavily from neuroscience and relational psychology, particularly the work of researchers like Allan Schore and Daniel Siegel. The idea is that the right hemisphere of the brain—which processes emotional tone, facial expressions, body language, prosody (the music of speech), and implicit relational knowing—can directly attune to another person's right hemisphere. This creates a form of resonance or empathic connection that happens largely beneath conscious awareness.

Some key aspects of this intersubjectivity include:

Implicit communication: Much of what happens is pre-verbal—the exchange of emotional states, intentions, and relational safety through presence, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language rather than through words.

Affect attunement: One person's nervous system can synchronize with another's, particularly in therapeutic relationships or between caregiver and child. This is sometimes called "mirror neuron" activity or neural coupling, where one person's emotional state influences the other's.

Relational knowing: Understanding that develops through being with someone rather than thinking about them—a form of knowledge that's felt and embodied rather than conceptualized.

Safety and trust: This mode of connection is thought to be foundational to secure attachment and healing, particularly in trauma therapy, where intellectual understanding alone is often insufficient.

The contrast is often drawn to left-brain-to-left-brain interaction, which is more explicit, linguistic, logical, and analytical. In healthy functioning, both modes work together, but right-brain-to-right-brain connection is seen as the foundation upon which secure relationships and emotional wellbeing are built.