Researchers at Dartmouth College in the US analysed more than 1,000 conversations between strangers and found that the chats people enjoyed most had a pattern physicists call pink noise. Such talks stay on a topic long enough to go deeper, but move on before it gets stale.
First author Kathryn O'Nell describes pink noise as sitting on the edge of chaos: stable, but never stuck. People in these conversations enjoyed them more, wanted to keep talking and felt more connected.
The same pattern showed up in talks between friends, and in speed dating, where more pink noise predicted which pairs met for a second date. Senior author Dr Emily Finn said simply being in sync can be dull. The study was published in Science Advances.
This article was written in our own words, based on reporting by The Guardian Science. Read the original: The Guardian Science ↗
