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Cheng S, Wang J, Luo R, Hao N. Brain to brain musical interaction: A systematic review of neural synchrony in musical activities. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 164:105812. [PMID: 39029879 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2024] [Revised: 07/02/2024] [Accepted: 07/13/2024] [Indexed: 07/21/2024]
Abstract
The use of hyperscanning technology has revealed the neural mechanisms underlying multi-person interaction in musical activities. However, there is currently a lack of integration among various research findings. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the social dynamics and brain synchronization in music activities through the analysis of 32 studies. The findings illustrate a strong correlation between inter-brain synchronization (IBS) and various musical activities, with the frontal, central, parietal, and temporal lobes as the primary regions involved. The application of hyperscanning not only advances theoretical research but also holds practical significance in enhancing the effectiveness of music-based interventions in therapy and education. The review also utilizes Predictive Coding Models (PCM) to provide a new perspective for interpreting neural synchronization in music activities. To address the limitations of current research, future studies could integrate multimodal data, adopt novel technologies, use non-invasive techniques, and explore additional research directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shate Cheng
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 200062, China.
| | - Jiayi Wang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 200062, China.
| | - Ruiyi Luo
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 200062, China.
| | - Ning Hao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; Key Laboratory of Philosophy and Social Science of Anhui Province on Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intelligence Intervention, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 200062, China.
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2
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Li S, Yu L, Gan X, Hou Y, Pan Y, Luo Y, Hu Y. The acquired dyad inclination and decreased interpersonal brain communication in the pursuit of collective benefit. Neuroimage 2024; 297:120700. [PMID: 38942103 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2024] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 06/21/2024] [Indexed: 06/30/2024] Open
Abstract
People perform better collectively than individually, a phenomenon known as the collective benefit. To pursue the benefit, they may learn from previous behaviors, come to know whose initial opinion should be valued, and develop the inclination to take it as the collective one. Such learning may affect interpersonal brain communication. To test these hypotheses, this study recruited participant dyads to conduct a perceptual task on which they made individual decisions first and then the collective one. The enhanced interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) between participants was explored when individual decisions were in disagreement vs. agreement. Computational modeling revealed that participant dyads developed the dyad inclination of taking the higher-able participants', not the lower-able ones' decisions as their collective ones. Brain analyses unveiled the enhanced IBS at frontopolar areas, premotor areas, supramarginal gyri, and right temporal-parietal junctions. The premotor IBS correlated negatively with dyad inclination and collective benefit in the absence of correction. The Granger causality analyses further supported the negative relation of dyad inclination with inter-brain communication. This study highlights that dyads learn to weigh individuals' decisions, resulting in dyad inclinations, and explores associated inter-brain communication, offering insights into the dynamics of collective decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuyi Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, PR China
| | - Linwei Yu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, PR China
| | - Xiaorong Gan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, PR China
| | - Yingying Hou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, PR China
| | - Yafeng Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, PR China
| | - Yi Luo
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, PR China.
| | - Yi Hu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, PR China.
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Bonnaire J, Dumas G, Cassell J. Bringing together multimodal and multilevel approaches to study the emergence of social bonds between children and improve social AI. FRONTIERS IN NEUROERGONOMICS 2024; 5:1290256. [PMID: 38827377 PMCID: PMC11140154 DOI: 10.3389/fnrgo.2024.1290256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 04/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
This protocol paper outlines an innovative multimodal and multilevel approach to studying the emergence and evolution of how children build social bonds with their peers, and its potential application to improving social artificial intelligence (AI). We detail a unique hyperscanning experimental framework utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to observe inter-brain synchrony in child dyads during collaborative tasks and social interactions. Our proposed longitudinal study spans middle childhood, aiming to capture the dynamic development of social connections and cognitive engagement in naturalistic settings. To do so we bring together four kinds of data: the multimodal conversational behaviors that dyads of children engage in, evidence of their state of interpersonal rapport, collaborative performance on educational tasks, and inter-brain synchrony. Preliminary pilot data provide foundational support for our approach, indicating promising directions for identifying neural patterns associated with productive social interactions. The planned research will explore the neural correlates of social bond formation, informing the creation of a virtual peer learning partner in the field of Social Neuroergonomics. This protocol promises significant contributions to understanding the neural basis of social connectivity in children, while also offering a blueprint for designing empathetic and effective social AI tools, particularly for educational contexts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Guillaume Dumas
- Research Center of the CHU Sainte-Justine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Mila–Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Justine Cassell
- Inria Paris Centre, Paris, France
- School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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Li Z, Zhang D. How does the human brain process noisy speech in real life? Insights from the second-person neuroscience perspective. Cogn Neurodyn 2024; 18:371-382. [PMID: 38699619 PMCID: PMC11061069 DOI: 10.1007/s11571-022-09924-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2022] [Revised: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Comprehending speech with the existence of background noise is of great importance for human life. In the past decades, a large number of psychological, cognitive and neuroscientific research has explored the neurocognitive mechanisms of speech-in-noise comprehension. However, as limited by the low ecological validity of the speech stimuli and the experimental paradigm, as well as the inadequate attention on the high-order linguistic and extralinguistic processes, there remains much unknown about how the brain processes noisy speech in real-life scenarios. A recently emerging approach, i.e., the second-person neuroscience approach, provides a novel conceptual framework. It measures both of the speaker's and the listener's neural activities, and estimates the speaker-listener neural coupling with regarding of the speaker's production-related neural activity as a standardized reference. The second-person approach not only promotes the use of naturalistic speech but also allows for free communication between speaker and listener as in a close-to-life context. In this review, we first briefly review the previous discoveries about how the brain processes speech in noise; then, we introduce the principles and advantages of the second-person neuroscience approach and discuss its implications to unravel the linguistic and extralinguistic processes during speech-in-noise comprehension; finally, we conclude by proposing some critical issues and calls for more research interests in the second-person approach, which would further extend the present knowledge about how people comprehend speech in noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuoran Li
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Room 334, Mingzhai Building, Beijing, 100084 China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China
| | - Dan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Room 334, Mingzhai Building, Beijing, 100084 China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 China
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Takeuchi N. A dual-brain therapeutic approach using noninvasive brain stimulation based on two-person neuroscience: A perspective review. MATHEMATICAL BIOSCIENCES AND ENGINEERING : MBE 2024; 21:5118-5137. [PMID: 38872529 DOI: 10.3934/mbe.2024226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2024]
Abstract
Our actions and decisions in everyday life are heavily influenced by social interactions, which are dynamic feedback loops involving actions, reactions, and internal cognitive processes between individual agents. Social interactions induce interpersonal synchrony, which occurs at different biobehavioral levels and comprises behavioral, physiological, and neurological activities. Hyperscanning-a neuroimaging technique that simultaneously measures the activity of multiple brain regions-has provided a powerful second-person neuroscience tool for investigating the phase alignment of neural processes during interactive social behavior. Neural synchronization, revealed by hyperscanning, is a phenomenon called inter-brain synchrony- a process that purportedly facilitates social interactions by prompting appropriate anticipation of and responses to each other's social behaviors during ongoing shared interactions. In this review, I explored the therapeutic dual-brain approach using noninvasive brain stimulation to target inter-brain synchrony based on second-person neuroscience to modulate social interaction. Artificially inducing synchrony between the brains is a potential adjunct technique to physiotherapy, psychotherapy, and pain treatment- which are strongly influenced by the social interaction between the therapist and patient. Dual-brain approaches to personalize stimulation parameters must consider temporal, spatial, and oscillatory factors. Multiple data fusion analysis, the assessment of inter-brain plasticity, a closed-loop system, and a brain-to-brain interface can support personalized stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoyuki Takeuchi
- Department of Physical Therapy, Akita University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita, 010-8543, Japan
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Xu X, Kong Q, Zhang D, Zhang Y. An evaluation of inter-brain EEG coupling methods in hyperscanning studies. Cogn Neurodyn 2024; 18:67-83. [PMID: 38406199 PMCID: PMC10881924 DOI: 10.1007/s11571-022-09911-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Accepted: 10/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
EEG-based hyperscanning technology has been increasingly applied to analyze interpersonal interactions in social neuroscience in recent years. However, different methods are employed in various of studies without a complete investigation of the suitability of these methods. Our study aimed to systematically compare typical inter-brain EEG coupling methods, with simulated EEG data generated by real EEG data. In particular, two critical metrics of noise level and time delay were manipulated, and three different coupling models were tested. The results revealed that: (1) under certain conditions, various methods were leveraged by noise level and time delay, leading to different performances; (2) most algorithms achieved better experimental results and performance under high coupling degree; (3) with our simulation process, temporal and spectral models showed relatively good results, while data simulated with phase coupling model performed worse. This is the first systematic comparison of typical inter-brain EEG coupling methods, with simulated EEG data generated by real EEG data from different subjects. Existing methods mainly focused on intra-brain coupling. To our knowledge, there was only one previous study that compared five inter-brain EEG coupling methods (Burgess in Front Human Neurosci 7:881, 2013). However, the simulated data used in this study were generated time series with varied degrees of phase coupling without considering any EEG characteristics. For future research, appropriate methods need to be selected based on possible underlying mechanisms (temporal, spectral and phase coupling model hypothesis) of a specific study, as well as the expected coupling degree and conditions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11571-022-09911-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomeng Xu
- Institute of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Qiuyue Kong
- School of Public Health, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Dan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Yu Zhang
- Institute of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Chang CHC, Nastase SA, Hasson U. How a speaker herds the audience: Multi-brain neural convergence over time during naturalistic storytelling. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2023.10.10.561803. [PMID: 37873125 PMCID: PMC10592711 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.10.561803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Storytelling-an ancient way for humans to share individual experiences with others-has been found to induce neural synchronization among listeners. In our exploration of the dynamic fluctuations in listener-listener (LL) coupling throughout stories, we uncover a significant correlation between LL and lag-speaker-listener (lag-SL) couplings over time. Using the analogy of neural pattern (dis)similarity as distances between participants, we term this phenomenon the "herding effect": like a shepherd guiding a group of sheep, the more closely listeners follow the speaker's prior brain activity patterns (higher lag-SL similarity), the more tightly they cluster together (higher LL similarity). This herding effect is particularly pronounced in brain regions where neural synchronization among listeners tracks with behavioral ratings of narrative engagement, highlighting the mediating role of narrative content in the observed multi-brain neural coupling dynamics. By integrating LL and SL neural couplings, this study illustrates how unfolding stories shape a dynamic multi-brain functional network and how the configuration of this network may be associated with moment-by-moment efficacy of communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire H. C. Chang
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540, USA
- The Graduate Institute of Mind, Brain and Consciousness, Taipei Medical University, New Taipei City, 235, Taiwan
| | - Samuel A. Nastase
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540, USA
| | - Uri Hasson
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08540, USA
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Zhang H, Wang H, Long Y, Jiang Y, Lu C. Interpersonal neural synchronization underlies mnemonic similarity during collaborative remembering. Neuropsychologia 2023; 191:108732. [PMID: 37951386 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Revised: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/07/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
Although collaborative remembering is a ubiquitous feature of human beings, its underlying neurocognitive process is not well understood. Here we hypothesized that interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) might underlie collaborative remembering, while real collaboration as opposed to other modes of offline collaboration should enhance INS and facilitate mnemonic similarity. To test these hypotheses, brain activity was measured simultaneously from two individuals who performed a group-based selective retrieval practice task either in a real collaboration or in a pseudo-collaboration, i.e., an individual performed the task together with a pre-recorded audio. The results showed that the memory of two individuals converged to a greater level than the chance level in real collaboration but not in control condition. Moreover, collaborative remembering was associated with significant INS increase in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) relative to the baseline in the real collaboration only. Additionally, INS increase was significantly greater in the real collaboration than in control condition. Finally, the PFC's INS increase was positively correlated with and could accurately predict the level of mnemonic similarity in real collaboration. These findings support the hypothesis that the enhanced INS underlies the cognitive process of collaborative remembering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Zhang
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China; Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China; Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Haiman Wang
- Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China; Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, 230088, China
| | - Yuhang Long
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Yunpeng Jiang
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China; Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China; Tianjin Social Science Laboratory of Students' Mental Development and Learning, Tianjin, 300387, China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
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Zhang T, Zhou S, Bai X, Zhou F, Zhai Y, Long Y, Lu C. Neurocomputations on dual-brain signals underlie interpersonal prediction during a natural conversation. Neuroimage 2023; 282:120400. [PMID: 37783363 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120400] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 09/21/2023] [Accepted: 09/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Prediction on the partner's speech plays a key role in a smooth conversation. However, previous studies on this issue have been majorly conducted at the single-brain rather than dual-brain level, leaving the interpersonal prediction hypothesis untested. To fill this gap, this study combined a neurocomputational modeling approach with a natural conversation paradigm in which two salespersons persuaded a customer to buy their product with their haemodynamic signals being collected using functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning. First, the results showed a cognitive hierarchy in a natural conversation, with the lower-level process (i.e., pragmatic representation of the persuasion) in the salesperson interacting with the higher-level process (i.e., value representation of the product) in the customer. Next, we found that the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (rdlPFC) and temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) were associated with the representation of the product's value in the customer, while the right inferior frontal cortex (rIFC) was associated with the representation of the pragmatic processes in the salesperson. Finally, neurocomputational modeling results supported the prediction of the salesperson's lower-level brain activity based on the customer's higher-level brain activity. Moreover, the updating weight of the prediction model based on the neural computation between the rIFC of the salesperson and the rTPJ of the customer was closely associated with the interaction context, whereas that based on the rIFC-rdlPFC was not. In summary, these findings provide initial support for the interpersonal prediction hypothesis at the dual-brain level and reveal a hierarchy for the interpersonal prediction process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengfei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China
| | - Siyuan Zhou
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, PR China
| | - Xialu Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China
| | - Faxin Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China
| | - Yu Zhai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China
| | - Yuhang Long
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, PR China.
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Li J, Hong B, Nolte G, Engel AK, Zhang D. EEG-based speaker-listener neural coupling reflects speech-selective attentional mechanisms beyond the speech stimulus. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:11080-11091. [PMID: 37814353 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/11/2023] Open
Abstract
When we pay attention to someone, do we focus only on the sound they make, the word they use, or do we form a mental space shared with the speaker we want to pay attention to? Some would argue that the human language is no other than a simple signal, but others claim that human beings understand each other because they form a shared mental ground between the speaker and the listener. Our study aimed to explore the neural mechanisms of speech-selective attention by investigating the electroencephalogram-based neural coupling between the speaker and the listener in a cocktail party paradigm. The temporal response function method was employed to reveal how the listener was coupled to the speaker at the neural level. The results showed that the neural coupling between the listener and the attended speaker peaked 5 s before speech onset at the delta band over the left frontal region, and was correlated with speech comprehension performance. In contrast, the attentional processing of speech acoustics and semantics occurred primarily at a later stage after speech onset and was not significantly correlated with comprehension performance. These findings suggest a predictive mechanism to achieve speaker-listener neural coupling for successful speech comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiawei Li
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee, Berlin 14195, Germany
| | - Bo Hong
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Guido Nolte
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg 20246, Germany
| | - Andreas K Engel
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, Hamburg 20246, Germany
| | - Dan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Tan SHJ, Wong JN, Teo WP. Is neuroimaging ready for the classroom? A systematic review of hyperscanning studies in learning. Neuroimage 2023; 281:120367. [PMID: 37689175 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Revised: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Whether education research can be informed by findings from neuroscience studies has been hotly debated since Bruer's (1997) famous claim that neuroscience and education are "a bridge too far". However, this claim came before recent advancements in portable electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technologies, and second-person neuroscience techniques that brought about significant headway in understanding instructor-learner interactions in the classroom. To explore whether neuroscience and education are still two very separate fields, we systematically review 15 hyperscanning studies that were conducted in real-world classrooms or that implemented a teaching-learning task to investigate instructor-learner dynamics. Findings from this investigation illustrate that inter-brain synchrony between instructor and learner is an additional and valuable dimension to understand the complex web of instructor- and learner-related variables that influence learning. Importantly, these findings demonstrate the possibility of conducting real-world classroom studies with portable neuroimaging techniques and highlight the potential of such studies in providing translatable real-world implications. Once thought of as incompatible, a successful coupling between neuroscience and education is now within sight.
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Affiliation(s)
- S H Jessica Tan
- Science of Learning in Education Centre, Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
| | - Jin Nen Wong
- Science of Learning in Education Centre, Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
| | - Wei-Peng Teo
- Science of Learning in Education Centre, Office of Education Research, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Physical Education and Sport Science Academic Group, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
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Pan Y, Vinding MC, Zhang L, Lundqvist D, Olsson A. A Brain-To-Brain Mechanism for Social Transmission of Threat Learning. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2023; 10:e2304037. [PMID: 37544901 PMCID: PMC10558655 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202304037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Survival and adaptation in environments require swift and efficacious learning about what is dangerous. Across species, much of such threat learning is acquired socially, e.g., through the observation of others' ("demonstrators'") defensive behaviors. However, the specific neural mechanisms responsible for the integration of information shared between demonstrators and observers remain largely unknown. This dearth of knowledge is addressed by performing magnetoencephalography (MEG) neuroimaging in demonstrator-observer dyads. A set of stimuli are first shown to a demonstrator whose defensive responses are filmed and later presented to an observer, while neuronal activity is recorded sequentially from both individuals who never interacted directly. These results show that brain-to-brain coupling (BtBC) in the fronto-limbic circuit (including insula, ventromedial, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) within demonstrator-observer dyads predict subsequent expressions of learning in the observer. Importantly, the predictive power of BtBC magnifies when a threat is imminent to the demonstrator. Furthermore, BtBC depends on how observers perceive their social status relative to the demonstrator, likely driven by shared attention and emotion, as bolstered by dyadic pupillary coupling. Taken together, this study describes a brain-to-brain mechanism for social threat learning, involving BtBC, which reflects social relationships and predicts adaptive, learned behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafeng Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral SciencesZhejiang UniversityHangzhou310058China
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
| | - Mikkel C. Vinding
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Centre for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and ResearchCopenhagen University Hospital ‐ Amager and HvidovreCopenhagen2650Denmark
| | - Lei Zhang
- Centre for Human Brain HealthSchool of PsychologyUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamB15 2TTUK
- Institute for Mental HealthSchool of PsychologyUniversity of BirminghamBirminghamB15 2TTUK
- SocialCognitive and Affective Neuroscience UnitDepartment of CognitionEmotionand Methods in PsychologyFaculty of PsychologyUniversity of ViennaVienna1010Austria
| | - Daniel Lundqvist
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
| | - Andreas Olsson
- Department of Clinical NeuroscienceKarolinska InstitutetStockholm17165Sweden
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Zhai Y, Xie H, Zhao H, Wang W, Lu C. Neural synchrony underlies the positive effect of shared reading on children's language ability. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10426-10440. [PMID: 37562850 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 07/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Although it is well recognized that parent-child shared reading produces positive effects on children's language ability, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we addressed this issue by measuring brain activities from mother-child dyads simultaneously during a shared book reading task using functional near infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning. The behavioral results showed that the long-term experience of shared reading significantly predicted children's language ability. Interestingly, the prediction was moderated by children's age: for older children over 30 months, the more the shared reading experience, the better the language performance; for younger children below 30 months, however, no significant relationship was observed. The brain results showed significant interpersonal neural synchronization between mothers and children at the superior temporal cortex, which was closely associated with older children's language ability through the mediation of long-term experience of shared reading. Finally, the results showed that the instantaneous quality of shared reading contributed to children's language ability through enhancing interpersonal neural synchronization and increasing long-term experience. Based on these findings, we tentatively proposed a theoretical model for the relationship among interpersonal neural synchronization, shared reading and children's language ability. These findings will facilitate our understanding on the role of shared reading in children's language development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Zhai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Huixin Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
- School of Preschool Education, Beijing Institute of Education, Beijing 100009, China
| | - Hui Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Wenjing Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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Barraza P, Rodríguez E. Executive Functions and Theory of Mind in Teachers and Non-Teachers. Heliyon 2023; 9:e19915. [PMID: 37809925 PMCID: PMC10559320 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Human teaching is a key behavior for the socialization of cultural knowledge. Previous studies suggest that human teaching behavior would support the development of executive and ToM skills, which in turn would refine the teaching behavior. Given this connection, it raises the question of whether subjects with professional training in teaching also have more efficient executive and ToM systems. To shed light on this issue, in the present study we compared the performance of professional teachers (N = 20, age range = 35-61 years) with a matched control group of non-teachers (N = 20, age range: 29-64 years) on tasks measuring working memory (Sternberg Task), cognitive flexibility (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test), executive control (Attention Network Test), along with online ToM skills (Frith-Happé Animations Task), emotion recognition (Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test) and first-order and second-order ToM (Yoni Task). We found that teachers were significantly more accurate on tasks involving cognitive flexibility (p = .014) and working memory (p = .040), and more efficient on tasks requiring executive control of attention (p = .046), compared to non-teachers. In ToM tasks, differences in accuracy between teachers and non-teachers were not found. But, teachers were slower to respond than non-teachers (about 2 s difference) on tasks involving emotion recognition (p = .0007) and the use of second-order affective ToM (p = .006). Collectively, our findings raise an interesting link between professional teaching and the development of cognitive skills critical for decision-making in challenging social contexts such as the classroom. Future research could explore ways to foster teachers' strengths in cognitive flexibility, working memory, and executive control of attention to enhance teaching strategies and student learning outcomes. Additionally, exploring factors behind slower response times in affective ToM tasks can guide teacher-training programs focused on interpersonal skills and improve teacher-student interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulo Barraza
- Center for Advanced Research in Education (CIAE), University of Chile, 8330014, Santiago, Chile
- Institute for Advanced Studies in Education (IE), University of Chile, 8330014, Santiago, Chile
| | - Eugenio Rodríguez
- School of Psychology, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, 7820436, Santiago, Chile
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15
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Dai X, Li X, Xia N, Xi J, Zhang Y. Client-counselor behavioral and inter-brain synchronization among dismissing and secure clients and its association with alliance quality and outcome. Psychother Res 2023:1-14. [PMID: 37643580 DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2249587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2022] [Revised: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective This study aimed to explore whether behavioral synchrony (BS) and inter-brain synchrony (IBS) could serve as potential biomarkers for alliance quality or outcomes among clients with different adult attachment styles. Method: We assessed the clients' self-report working alliance and clinical outcomes as well as simultaneously measured BS using motion energy analysis (MEA) and IBS with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) among 37 secure (N = 21) or dismissing (N = 16) clients with their counselors during the first psychological counseling meeting. Results: Dismissing dyads manifested significantly higher late-stage counselor-led and client-led IBS (p = .018) than secure dyads. Adult attachment style served as the moderators in the correlation of both whole-stage client-led BS with bond dimension of alliance (p = .015) as well as in the correlation of both whole-stage no-lag IBS with CORE-10 score changes (p = .022). Moreover, increases in the whole-stage client-led BS were significantly associated with decreases in early-stage, late-stage and whole-stage no-lag IBS (all ps ≤ 0.01). Conclusion: These findings revealed the potentially impeding role of interpersonal synchrony in alliance quality for dismissing clients, at least during the first psychological counseling meetings. They also might partially validate the relationship between different modalities of interpersonal synchrony.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyan Dai
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Centre (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Xueying Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Centre (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Na Xia
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Centre (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Juzhe Xi
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Centre (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Ya Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Centre (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
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16
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Liu J, Zhang R, Xie E, Lin Y, Chen D, Liu Y, Li K, Chen M, Li Y, Wang G, Li X. Shared intentionality modulates interpersonal neural synchronization at the establishment of communication system. Commun Biol 2023; 6:832. [PMID: 37563301 PMCID: PMC10415255 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05197-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Whether and how shared intentionality (SI) influences the establishment of a novel interpersonal communication system is poorly understood. To investigate this issue, we designed a coordinating symbolic communication game (CSCG) and applied behavioral, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning, and hyper-transcranial alternating current stimulation (hyper-tACS) methods. Here we show that SI is a strong contributor to communicative accuracy. Moreover, SI, communicative accuracy, and interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG) are higher when dyads successfully establish a novel communication system. Furthermore, the SI influences communicative accuracy by increasing INS. Additionally, using time series and long short-term memory neural network analyses, we find that the INS can predict communicative accuracy at the early formation stage of the communication system. Importantly, the INS partially mediates the relationship between the SI and the communicative accuracy only at the formation stage of the communication system. In contrast, when the communication system is established, SI and INS no longer contribute to communicative accuracy. Finally, the hyper-tACS experiment confirms that INS has a causal effect on communicative accuracy. These findings suggest a behavioral and neural mechanism, subserved by the SI and INS, that underlies the establishment of a novel interpersonal communication system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieqiong Liu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- Paediatric Translational Medicine Institute, Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ruqian Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Enhui Xie
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yixuan Lin
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Danni Chen
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yang Liu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Keshuang Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mei Chen
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yangzhuo Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Guanghai Wang
- Paediatric Translational Medicine Institute, Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
| | - Xianchun Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
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17
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Zhang W, Qiu L, Tang F, Li H. Affective or cognitive interpersonal emotion regulation in couples: an fNIRS hyperscanning study. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:7960-7970. [PMID: 36944535 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Revised: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/25/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Sadness regulation is crucial for maintaining the romantic relationships of couples. Interpersonal emotion regulation, including affective engagement (AE) and cognitive engagement (CE), activates social brain networks. However, it is unclear how AE and CE regulate sadness in couples through affective bonds. We recruited 30 heterosexual couple dyads and 30 heterosexual stranger dyads and collected functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning data while each dyad watched sad or neutral videos and while the regulator regulated the target's sadness. Then, we characterized interbrain synchronization (IBS) and Granger causality (GC). The results indicated that AE and CE were more effective for couples than for strangers and that sadness evaluation of female targets was lower than that of male targets. CE-induced IBS at CH13 (BA10, right middle frontal gyrus) was lower for female targets than for male targets, while no gender difference in AE was detected. GC change at CH13 during CE was lower in the sad condition for male targets than for female targets, while no gender difference in AE was discovered. These observations suggest that AE and CE activate affective bonds but that CE was more effective for regulating sadness in female targets, revealing different neural patterns of cognitive and affective sadness regulation in couples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenhai Zhang
- The Big Data Centre for Neuroscience and AI, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang 421002, China
- Mental Health Center, Yancheng Institute of Technology, Yancheng 224051, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Lanting Qiu
- The Big Data Centre for Neuroscience and AI, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang 421002, China
| | - Fanggui Tang
- The Big Data Centre for Neuroscience and AI, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang 421002, China
| | - Hong Li
- Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, Ministry of Education; School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou Guangdong, China
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18
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Sun B, Wang Y, Ye Q, Pan Y. Associations of Empathy with Teacher-Student Interactions: A Potential Ternary Model. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13050767. [PMID: 37239239 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13050767] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2023] [Revised: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 05/04/2023] [Indexed: 05/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Empathy has garnered increasing recognition as a pivotal component of teacher-student interactions and a notable determinant of student achievement. Nevertheless, the exact impact of empathy on teacher-student interactions remains elusive, despite research endeavors into the neural mechanisms of teacher empathy. Our article examines the cognitive neural processes of teacher empathy during various forms of teacher-student interactions. To this end, we first present a concise review of theoretical considerations related to empathy and interactions, followed by an extensive discussion of teacher-student interactions and teacher empathy through both "single-brain" and "dual-brain" perspectives. Drawing on these discussions, we propose a potential model of empathy that integrates the affective contagion, cognitive evaluation, and behavior prediction aspects of teacher-student interactions. Finally, future research directions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Binghai Sun
- Intelligent Laboratory of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intervention of Zhejiang Province, School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
| | - Yaoyao Wang
- Intelligent Laboratory of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intervention of Zhejiang Province, School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
| | - Qun Ye
- Intelligent Laboratory of Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Crisis Intervention of Zhejiang Province, School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
- Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, China
| | - Yafeng Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
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19
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Davidesco I, Laurent E, Valk H, West T, Milne C, Poeppel D, Dikker S. The Temporal Dynamics of Brain-to-Brain Synchrony Between Students and Teachers Predict Learning Outcomes. Psychol Sci 2023; 34:633-643. [PMID: 37053267 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231163872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Much of human learning happens through interaction with other people, but little is known about how this process is reflected in the brains of students and teachers. Here, we concurrently recorded electroencephalography (EEG) data from nine groups, each of which contained four students and a teacher. All participants were young adults from the northeast United States. Alpha-band (8-12 Hz) brain-to-brain synchrony between students predicted both immediate and delayed posttest performance. Further, brain-to-brain synchrony was higher in specific lecture segments associated with questions that students answered correctly. Brain-to-brain synchrony between students and teachers predicted learning outcomes at an approximately 300-ms lag in the students' brain activity relative to the teacher's brain activity, which is consistent with the time course of spoken-language comprehension. These findings provide key new evidence for the importance of collecting brain data simultaneously from groups of learners in ecologically valid settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ido Davidesco
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut
| | | | | | - Tessa West
- Department of Psychology, New York University
| | | | - David Poeppel
- Department of Psychology, New York University
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute for Neuroscience, Frankfurt, Germany
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20
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Zhang Q, Liu Z, Qian H, Hu Y, Gao X. Interpersonal Competition in Elderly Couples: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Hyperscanning Study. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13040600. [PMID: 37190565 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13040600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 04/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Elderly people tend not to compete with others, and if they do, the mechanism behind the competition is not clear. In this study, groups of elderly couples and matched cross-sex controls were recruited to perform a competitive button-pressing task, while their brain signals were simultaneously collected using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning. Several fundamental observations were made. First, controls showed attenuated interpersonal competition across task processes, but couples held the competition with each other. Second, couples demonstrated increased inter-brain synchronization (IBS) between the middle temporal cortex and the temporoparietal junction across task processes. Third, Granger causality analysis in couples revealed significant differences between the directions (i.e., from men to women, and from women to men) in the first half of the competitive task, whereas there was no significant difference in the second half. Finally, the groups of couples and controls could be successfully discriminated against based on IBS by using a machine-learning approach. In sum, these findings indicate that elderly couples can maintain interpersonal competition, and such maintenance might be associated with changes in the IBS of the mentalizing system. It suggests the possible positive impact of long-term spouse relationships on interpersonal interactions, both behaviorally and neurally, in terms of competition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
| | - Zhennan Liu
- Department of Psychology, Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
| | - Haoyue Qian
- Institute of Neuroscience, Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
- Shanghai Institute of Early Childhood Education, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
| | - Yinying Hu
- Department of Psychology, Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
| | - Xiangping Gao
- Department of Psychology, Education College, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
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21
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Pan Y, Cheng X, Hu Y. Three heads are better than one: cooperative learning brains wire together when a consensus is reached. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:1155-1169. [PMID: 35348653 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2022] [Revised: 03/05/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of human learning converge on the view that individuals working together learn better than do those working independently. Little is known, however, about the neural mechanisms of learning through cooperation. We addressed this research gap by leveraging functional near-infrared spectroscopy to record the brain activity of triad members in a group simultaneously. Triads were instructed to analyze an ancient Chinese poem either cooperatively or independently. Four main findings emerged. First, we observed significant within-group neural synchronization (GNS) in the left superior temporal cortex, supramarginal gyrus, and postcentral gyrus during cooperative learning compared with independent learning. Second, the enhancement of GNS in triads was amplified when a consensus was reached (vs. elaboration or argument) during cooperative learning. Third, GNS was predictive of learning outcome at an early stage (156-170 s after learning was initiated). Fourth, social factors such as social closeness (e.g. how much learners liked one other) were reflected in GNS and co-varied with learning engagement. These results provide neuroscientific support for Piaget's theory of cognitive development and favor the notion that successful learning through cooperation involves dynamic consensus-building, which is captured in neural patterns shared across learners in a group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafeng Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, 310063 Hangzhou, China.,Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaojun Cheng
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, 518060 Shenzhen, China
| | - Yi Hu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology, 200031 Shanghai, China
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22
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He Y, Wang X, Lu K, Hao N. Letting leaders spontaneously emerge yields better creative outcomes and higher leader-follower interbrain synchrony during creative group communication. Cereb Cortex 2023:7008113. [PMID: 36708018 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate how the ways leaders arise (appointed vs. emergent) affect the leader-follower interaction during creative group communication. Hyperscanning technique was adopted to reveal the underlying interpersonal neural correlates using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Participants were assigned into 3-person groups to complete a creative problem-solving task. These groups were randomly split into conditions of appointed (condition A) and emergent (condition E) leaders. Creative group outcomes were better in condition E, accompanied by more frequent perspective-taking behaviors between leaders and followers. The interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) increment for leader-follower pairs was significantly higher at the right angular gyrus (rAG), between the rAG and the right supramarginal gyrus (rSMG), and between the right middle temporal gyrus and the right motor cortex in condition E and positively correlated with perspective-taking behaviors between leaders and followers. The graph-based analysis showed higher nodal betweenness of the rAG and the rSMG in condition E. These results indicated the neural coupling of brain regions involved in mentalizing, semantic processing and motor imagery may underlie the dynamic information transmission between leaders and followers during creative group communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingyao He
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, No. 3663, North Zhong Shan Road, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Xinyue Wang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, No. 3663, North Zhong Shan Road, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Kelong Lu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, No. 3663, North Zhong Shan Road, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Ning Hao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, No. 3663, North Zhong Shan Road, Shanghai 200062, China
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23
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Zhao H, Zhang T, Cheng T, Chen C, Zhai Y, Liang X, Cheng N, Long Y, Li Y, Wang Z, Lu C. Neurocomputational mechanisms of young children's observational learning of delayed gratification. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:6063-6076. [PMID: 36562999 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 11/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to delay gratification is crucial for a successful and healthy life. An effective way for young children to learn this ability is to observe the action of adult models. However, the underlying neurocomputational mechanism remains unknown. Here, we tested the hypotheses that children employed either the simple imitation strategy or the goal-inference strategy when learning from adult models in a high-uncertainty context. Results of computational modeling indicated that children used the goal-inference strategy regardless of whether the adult model was their mother or a stranger. At the neural level, results showed that successful learning of delayed gratification was associated with enhanced interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) between children and the adult models in the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex but was not associated with children's own single-brain activity. Moreover, the discounting of future reward's value obtained from computational modeling of the goal-inference strategy was positively correlated with the strength of INS. These findings from our exploratory study suggest that, even for 3-year-olds, the goal-inference strategy is used to learn delayed gratification from adult models, and the learning strategy is associated with neural interaction between the brains of children and adult models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, P.R. China
| | - Tengfei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, P.R. China
| | - Tong Cheng
- Research Center for Child Development, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, P.R. China
| | - Chuansheng Chen
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, United States
| | - Yu Zhai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, P.R. China
| | - Xi Liang
- Research Center for Child Development, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, P.R. China
| | - Nanhua Cheng
- Research Center for Child Development, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, P.R. China
| | - Yuhang Long
- Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ying Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, P.R. China
| | - Zhengyan Wang
- Research Center for Child Development, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, P.R. China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, No. 19 Xinjiekouwai Street, Beijing 100875, P.R. China
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24
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Hou Y, Zhang D, Gan X, Hu Y. Group polarization calls for group-level brain communication. Neuroimage 2022; 264:119739. [PMID: 36356821 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 11/05/2022] [Accepted: 11/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Group of people shows the shift towards extreme of decision-making as opposed to individuals. Previous studies have revealed two directions of group polarization, i.e., risky shift and cautious shift, but how group of brains drive these shifts remains unknown. In the current study, we arranged risk advantage and disadvantage situations to elicit group polarization of risky shift and cautious shift respectively, and examined the averaged inter-brain synchronization (ABS) among participant triads during group decision making versus individual decision making. The elicited group polarizations were accompanied by the enhanced ABS at bilateral prefrontal areas and left temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Specifically, the TPJ ABS was equivalent in risky shift and cautious shift, and based on machine learning analyses, could predict the extent of group polarization; for two shifts, it negatively correlated with negative emotion. However, the right prefrontal ABS was stronger in risky shift than in cautious shift, and the same area showed the larger brain deactivation in former shift, indicating weaker executive control. For the left prefrontal ABS, only the equivalent ABS was found for two shifts. In sum, group polarization of risky shift and cautious shift calls for inter-brain communication at the group level, and the former shift is with deactivation and more brain synchronization. Our study suggests emotional and cognitive adjustment in decision making of the group compared with individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingying Hou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Dingning Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Xiaorong Gan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Yi Hu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
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25
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Bazhydai M, Ke H, Thomas H, Wong MKY, Westermann G. Investigating the effect of synchronized movement on toddlers' word learning. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1008404. [PMID: 36506988 PMCID: PMC9731293 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1008404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The effect of interpersonal behavioral synchrony on children's behavior is an emerging field rich with research potential. While studies demonstrate its effect on affiliative and prosocial outcomes, the role of synchronized movement on children's specific learning outcomes has not yet been investigated experimentally. One possibility is that synchrony, as a coordinated social activity, encourages perceived social bonds, leading to heightened attention, and better information retention. Equally likely is that physiological, rather than social learning, mechanisms mediate the effect, given the previously demonstrated role of autonomic arousal in attentional fluctuations, cognitive engagement, problem solving, exploration, and curiosity. The present study investigated the behavioral and physiological effects of synchrony conceptualized as induced, interpersonal, behavioral, movement-based interaction, on word learning in 2.5-year-old children. In a laboratory experiment, toddlers engaged in either a synchronous or an asynchronous movement-based interaction with an adult experimenter while listening to an upbeat children's song. After the (a)synchronous movement episode, the same experimenter engaged children in a word learning task. During the (a)synchrony and learning phases, children's physiological arousal was continuously recorded, resulting in heart rate and skin conductance response measures. Following a caregiver-child free play break, children were tested on their novel word retention. The results indicated that children learned novel labels at equal rates during the learning phase in both conditions, and their retention at test did not differ between conditions: although above chance retention of novel labels was found only following the synchronous, but not the asynchronous episode, the cross-episode comparisons did not reach statistical significance. Physiological arousal indices following the (a)synchrony episode did not differ between conditions and did not predict better word learning, although skin conductance response was higher during the learning than the movement episode. This study contributes to our understanding of the underlying cognitive and physiological mechanisms of interpersonal behavioral synchrony in the knowledge acquisition domain and paves the way to future investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Bazhydai
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom,*Correspondence: Marina Bazhydai,
| | - Han Ke
- Psychology School of Social Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Hannah Thomas
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
| | - Malcolm K. Y. Wong
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
| | - Gert Westermann
- Department of Psychology, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
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26
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Li Z, Hong B, Wang D, Nolte G, Engel AK, Zhang D. Speaker-listener neural coupling reveals a right-lateralized mechanism for non-native speech-in-noise comprehension. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:3701-3714. [PMID: 35975617 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2022] [Revised: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 07/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
While the increasingly globalized world has brought more and more demands for non-native language communication, the prevalence of background noise in everyday life poses a great challenge to non-native speech comprehension. The present study employed an interbrain approach based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to explore how people adapt to comprehend non-native speech information in noise. A group of Korean participants who acquired Chinese as their non-native language was invited to listen to Chinese narratives at 4 noise levels (no noise, 2 dB, -6 dB, and - 9 dB). These narratives were real-life stories spoken by native Chinese speakers. Processing of the non-native speech was associated with significant fNIRS-based listener-speaker neural couplings mainly over the right hemisphere at both the listener's and the speaker's sides. More importantly, the neural couplings from the listener's right superior temporal gyrus, the right middle temporal gyrus, as well as the right postcentral gyrus were found to be positively correlated with their individual comprehension performance at the strongest noise level (-9 dB). These results provide interbrain evidence in support of the right-lateralized mechanism for non-native speech processing and suggest that both an auditory-based and a sensorimotor-based mechanism contributed to the non-native speech-in-noise comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuoran Li
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.,Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Bo Hong
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Daifa Wang
- School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Guido Nolte
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Andreas K Engel
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Dan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.,Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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27
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Wang X, Lu K, He Y, Gao Z, Hao N. Close spatial distance and direct gaze bring better communication outcomes and more intertwined neural networks. Neuroimage 2022; 261:119515. [PMID: 35932994 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Revised: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/24/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Non-verbal cues tone our communication. Previous studies found that non-verbal factors, such as spatial distance and gaze direction, significantly impact interpersonal communication. However, little is known about the behind multi-brain neural correlates and whether it could affect high-level creative group communication. Here, we provided a new, scalable, and neuro-based approach to explore the effects of non-verbal factors on different communication tasks, and revealed the underlying multi-brain neural correlates using fNIRS-based hyperscanning technique. Across two experiments, we found that closer spatial distance and more direct gaze angle could promote collaborative behaviors, improve both creative and non-creative communication outcomes, and enhance inter-brain neural synchronization. Moreover, compared to the non-creative communication task, participants' inter-brain network was more intertwined when performing the creative communication task. These findings suggest that close spatial distance and direct gaze serve as positive social cues, bringing interacting brains into alignment and optimizing inter-brain information transfer, thus improving communication outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinyue Wang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 200062
| | - Kelong Lu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 200062
| | - Yingyao He
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 200062
| | - Zhenni Gao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 200062
| | - Ning Hao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, 200062.
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28
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Liang Z, Li S, Zhou S, Chen S, Li Y, Chen Y, Zhao Q, Huang F, Lu C, Yu Q, Zhou Z. Increased or decreased? Interpersonal neural synchronization in group creation. Neuroimage 2022; 260:119448. [PMID: 35843516 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Revised: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/03/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Group creation is the process by which group members collaborate to produce novel and useful ideas or products, including ideas generation and evaluation. However, the interpersonal neural mechanism of group creation during natural communication remains unclear. In this study, two groups of same-sex dyads with similar individual creativity collaborated to complete the Product Improvement Task (creative condition) and the Item Purchase Plan Task (control condition), respectively. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to record both members' neural activity in the left prefrontal (lPFC) and right temporal-parietal junction (rTPJ) regions during the task. Considering that the role asymmetry of group members may have an impact on interpersonal neural patterns, we identified leaders and followers in the dyads based on participant performance. The results showed that leaders and followers in the creative condition had significantly lower interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the right superior temporal gyrus-left superior frontal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus-left superior frontal gyrus, and right supramarginal gyrus-left middle frontal gyrus than in the control condition. Partial multivariate Granger causality analyses revealed the influence between dyads was bidirectional but was significantly stronger from the leaders to the followers than the other direction. In addition, in the creative task, the INS was significantly associated with novelty, appropriateness, and conflict of views. All these findings suggest that the ideas generation and ideas evaluation process in group creation have poor interpersonal neural activity coupling due to factors such as the difficulty of understanding novel ideas. However, performances may be improved when groups can better integrate views and reach collective understanding, intentions, and goals. Furthermore, we found that there are differences in the dynamics of INS in different brain regions. The INS related to the novelty of the group creation decreased in the early stages, while the INS related to the appropriateness decreased in the middle stages. Our findings reveal a unique interpersonal neural pattern of group creation processes in the context of natural communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zheng Liang
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Songqing Li
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; College of Electronic Engineering, Naval University of Engineering, Wuhan, China
| | - Siyuan Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Shi Chen
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Ying Li
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; School of Preschool Education, Changsha Normal University, Changsha, China
| | - Yanran Chen
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Qingbai Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
| | - Furong Huang
- School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, China.
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Quanlei Yu
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
| | - Zhijin Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Adolescent Cyberpsychology and Behavior (CCNU), Ministry of Education, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China; Key Laboratory of Human Development and Mental Health of Hubei Province, School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
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Pan Y, Dikker S, Zhu Y, Yang C, Hu Y, Goldstein P. Instructor-learner body coupling reflects instruction and learning. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2022; 7:15. [PMID: 35764662 PMCID: PMC9240028 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-022-00131-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
It is widely accepted that nonverbal communication is crucial for learning, but the exact functions of interpersonal coordination between instructors and learners remain unclear. Specifically, it is unknown what role instructional approaches play in the coupling of physical motion between instructors and learners, and crucially, how such instruction-mediated Body-to-Body Coupling (BtBC) might affect learning. We used a video-based, computer-vision Motion Energy Analysis (MEA) to quantify BtBC between learners and instructors who used two different instructional approaches to teach psychological concepts. BtBC was significantly greater when the instructor employed a scaffolding approach than when an explanation approach was used. The importance of the instructional approach was further underscored by the fact that an increase in motion in the instructor was associated with boosted BtBC, but only during scaffolding; no such relationship between the instructor movements and BtBC was found during explanation interactions. Finally, leveraging machine learning approaches (i.e., support vector and logistic regression models), we demonstrated that both learning outcome and instructional approaches could be decoded based on BtBC. Collectively, these results show that the real-time interaction of teaching and learning bodies is important for learning and that the instructional approach matters, with possible implications for both in-person and online learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafeng Pan
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Suzanne Dikker
- NYU-Max Planck Center for Language, Music and Emotion, New York City, NY, USA
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yi Zhu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Cuirong Yang
- Department of Psychology, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China
| | - Yi Hu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
- Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology, Shanghai, China.
| | - Pavel Goldstein
- Integrative Pain (iPain) Laboratory, School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
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30
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Wang X, Zhang Y, He Y, Lu K, Hao N. Dynamic Inter-Brain Networks Correspond With Specific Communication Behaviors: Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Hyperscanning During Creative and Non-creative Communication. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:907332. [PMID: 35721354 PMCID: PMC9201441 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.907332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interaction is a dynamic and variable process. However, most hyperscanning studies implicitly assume that inter-brain synchrony (IBS) is constant and rarely investigate the temporal variability of the multi-brain networks. In this study, we used sliding windows and k-mean clustering to obtain a set of representative inter-brain network states during different group communication tasks. By calculating the network parameters and temporal occurrence of the inter-brain states, we found that dense efficient interbrain states and sparse inefficient interbrain states appeared alternately and periodically, and the occurrence of efficient interbrain states was positively correlated with collaborative behaviors and group performance. Moreover, compared to common communication, the occurrence of efficient interbrain states and state transitions were significantly higher during creative communication, indicating a more active and intertwined neural network. These findings may indicate that there is a close correspondence between inter-brain network states and social behaviors, contributing to the flourishing literature on group communication.
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31
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Cooperative Behavior Evokes Interbrain Synchrony in the Prefrontal and Temporoparietal Cortex: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of fNIRS Hyperscanning Studies. eNeuro 2022; 9:ENEURO.0268-21.2022. [PMID: 35365502 PMCID: PMC9014979 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0268-21.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Revised: 12/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Single-brain neuroimaging studies have shown that human cooperation is associated with neural activity in frontal and temporoparietal regions. However, it remains unclear whether single-brain studies are informative about cooperation in real life, where people interact dynamically. Such dynamic interactions have become the focus of interbrain studies. An advantageous technique in this regard is functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) because it is less susceptible to movement artifacts than more conventional techniques like electroencephalography (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We conducted a systematic review and the first quantitative meta-analysis of fNIRS hyperscanning of cooperation, based on thirteen studies with 890 human participants. Overall, the meta-analysis revealed evidence of statistically significant interbrain synchrony while people were cooperating, with large overall effect sizes in both frontal and temporoparietal areas. All thirteen studies observed significant interbrain synchrony in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), suggesting that this region is particularly relevant for cooperative behavior. The consistency in these findings is unlikely to be because of task-related activations, given that the relevant studies used diverse cooperation tasks. Together, the present findings support the importance of interbrain synchronization of frontal and temporoparietal regions in interpersonal cooperation. Moreover, the present article highlights the usefulness of meta-analyses as a tool for discerning patterns in interbrain dynamics.
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32
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Zhang L, Xu X, Li Z, Chen L, Feng L. Interpersonal Neural Synchronization Predicting Learning Outcomes From Teaching-Learning Interaction: A Meta-Analysis. Front Psychol 2022; 13:835147. [PMID: 35295390 PMCID: PMC8918582 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.835147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In school education, teaching-learning interaction is deemed as a core process in the classroom. The fundamental neural basis underlying teaching-learning interaction is proposed to be essential for tuning learning outcomes. However, the neural basis of this process as well as the relationship between the neural dynamics and the learning outcomes are largely unclear. With non-invasive technologies such as fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy), hyperscanning techniques have been developed since the last decade and been applied to the field of educational neuroscience for simultaneous multi-brain scanning. Hyperscanning studies suggest that the interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) during teaching-learning interaction might be an ideal neural biomarker for predicting learning outcomes. To systematically evaluate such a relationship, this meta-analysis ran on a random-effects model on 16 studies with 23 independent samples (effect sizes). Further moderator analyses were also performed to examine the potential influences of the style, mode, content, and the assessment method of learning outcomes. The random-effects modeling results confirmed a robust positive correlation between INS and learning outcomes. Subsequent analyses revealed that such relationship was mainly affected by both interaction style and mode. Therefore, the present meta-analysis provided a confirmatory neurocognitive foundation for teaching-learning interaction, as well as its relation to the learning outcomes, consolidated future learning and teaching studies in various disciplines including second language education with a firm methodological reference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liaoyuan Zhang
- College of Chinese Language and Culture, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoxiong Xu
- College of Chinese Language and Culture, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhongshan Li
- School of Foreign Languages and Literature, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Luyao Chen
- College of Chinese Language and Culture, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Max Planck Partner Group, College of Chinese Language and Culture, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Luyao Chen,
| | - Liping Feng
- College of Chinese Language and Culture, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Liping Feng,
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Bilek E, Zeidman P, Kirsch P, Tost H, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Friston K. Directed coupling in multi-brain networks underlies generalized synchrony during social exchange. Neuroimage 2022; 252:119038. [PMID: 35231631 PMCID: PMC8987739 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Revised: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Advances in social neuroscience have made neural signatures of social exchange measurable simultaneously across people. This has identified brain regions differentially active during social interaction between human dyads, but the underlying systems-level mechanisms are incompletely understood. This paper introduces dynamic causal modeling and Bayesian model comparison to assess the causal and directed connectivity between two brains in the context of hyperscanning (h-DCM). In this setting, correlated neuronal responses become the data features that have to be explained by models with and without between-brain (effective) connections. Connections between brains can be understood in the context of generalized synchrony, which explains how dynamical systems become synchronized when they are coupled to each another. Under generalized synchrony, each brain state can be predicted by the other brain or a mixture of both. Our results show that effective connectivity between brains is not a feature within dyads per se but emerges selectively during social exchange. We demonstrate a causal impact of the sender's brain activity on the receiver of information, which explains previous reports of two-brain synchrony. We discuss the implications of this work; in particular, how characterizing generalized synchrony enables the discovery of between-brain connections in any social contact, and the advantage of h-DCM in studying brain function on the subject level, dyadic level, and group level within a directed model of (between) brain function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edda Bilek
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim 68159 , Germany.
| | - Peter Zeidman
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Peter Kirsch
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim 68159, Germany
| | - Heike Tost
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim 68159 , Germany
| | - Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Square J5, Mannheim 68159 , Germany
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
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Takeuchi N. Perspectives on Rehabilitation Using Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Based on Second-Person Neuroscience of Teaching-Learning Interactions. Front Psychol 2022; 12:789637. [PMID: 35069374 PMCID: PMC8769209 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.789637] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent advances in second-person neuroscience have allowed the underlying neural mechanisms involved in teaching-learning interactions to be better understood. Teaching is not merely a one-way transfer of information from teacher to student; it is a complex interaction that requires metacognitive and mentalizing skills to understand others’ intentions and integrate information regarding oneself and others. Physiotherapy involving therapists instructing patients on how to improve their motor skills is a clinical field in which teaching-learning interactions play a central role. Accumulating evidence suggests that non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) modulates cognitive functions; however, NIBS approaches to teaching-learning interactions are yet to be utilized in rehabilitation. In this review, I evaluate the present research into NIBS and its role in enhancing metacognitive and mentalizing abilities; I then review hyperscanning studies of teaching-learning interactions and explore the potential clinical applications of NIBS in rehabilitation. Dual-brain stimulation using NIBS has been developed based on findings of brain-to-brain synchrony in hyperscanning studies, and it is delivered simultaneously to two individuals to increase inter-brain synchronized oscillations at the stimulated frequency. Artificial induction of brain-to-brain synchrony has the potential to promote instruction-based learning. The brain-to-brain interface, which induces inter-brain synchronization by adjusting the patient’s brain activity, using NIBS, to the therapist’s brain activity, could have a positive effect on both therapist-patient interactions and rehabilitation outcomes. NIBS based on second-person neuroscience has the potential to serve as a useful addition to the current neuroscientific methods used in complementary interventions for rehabilitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naoyuki Takeuchi
- Department of Physical Therapy, Akita University Graduate School of Health Sciences, Akita, Japan
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35
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Long Y, Chen C, Wu K, Zhou S, Zhou F, Zheng L, Zhao H, Zhai Y, Lu C. Interpersonal Conflict Increases Interpersonal Neural Synchronization in Romantic Couples. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:3254-3268. [PMID: 34849643 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab413] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 10/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies on dual-brain social interaction have shown different patterns of interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) between conflictual and supportive interactions, but the role of emotion in the dual-brain mechanisms of such interactions is not well understood. Furthermore, little is known about how the dual-brain mechanisms are affected by relationship type (e.g., romantic relationship vs. friendship) and interaction mode (e.g., verbal vs. nonverbal). To elaborate on these issues, this study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to collect hemodynamic signals from romantic couples and cross-sex friends while they were discussing conflictual, neutral, or supportive topics. For the couples but not the friends, INS between the sensorimotor cortex of both participants was greater when discussing the conflictual topic than when discussing the supportive topic. INS was positively correlated with the arousal level but not the valence level of communication contents. INS was also positively correlated with interpersonal physiological synchronization based on galvanic skin response, a physiological measure of arousal. Furthermore, the differences in INS between the conflictual and supportive topics were closely associated with verbal rather than nonverbal behaviors. Together, these findings suggest that it is the arousal level induced by verbal interactions during interpersonal conflicts that increases romantic couples' INS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuhang Long
- Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Chuansheng Chen
- Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Karen Wu
- Department of Psychology, California State University, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USA
| | - Siyuan Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Faxin Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Lifen Zheng
- Center for Teacher Education Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Hui Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yu Zhai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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36
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Pan Y, Novembre G, Olsson A. The Interpersonal Neuroscience of Social Learning. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2021; 17:680-695. [PMID: 34637374 DOI: 10.1177/17456916211008429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The study of the brain mechanisms underpinning social behavior is currently undergoing a paradigm shift, moving its focus from single individuals to the real-time interaction among groups of individuals. Although this development opens unprecedented opportunities to study how interpersonal brain activity shapes behaviors through learning, there have been few direct connections to the rich field of learning science. Our article examines how the rapidly developing field of interpersonal neuroscience is (and could be) contributing to our understanding of social learning. To this end, we first review recent research extracting indices of brain-to-brain coupling (BtBC) in the context of social behaviors and, in particular, social learning. We then discuss how studying communicative behaviors during learning can aid the interpretation of BtBC and how studying BtBC can inform our understanding of such behaviors. We then discuss how BtBC and communicative behaviors collectively can predict learning outcomes, and we suggest several causative and mechanistic models. Finally, we highlight key methodological and interpretational challenges as well as exciting opportunities for integrating research in interpersonal neuroscience with social learning, and we propose a multiperson framework for understanding how interpersonal transmission of information between individual brains shapes social learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafeng Pan
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience of Perception and Action Lab, Italian Institute of Technology
| | - Andreas Olsson
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet
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37
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Lu K, Qiao X, Yun Q, Hao N. Educational diversity and group creativity: Evidence from fNIRS hyperscanning. Neuroimage 2021; 243:118564. [PMID: 34506915 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118564] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/06/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Educational diversity is defined as the diversity of educational backgrounds measured by multiple subjects. This study aimed to unveil the interpersonal neural correlates that underlie the effect of group educational diversity on group creativity. One hundred and sixteen college students were assigned to high educational diversity (HD; the members respectively majored in science or social science) or low educational diversity (LD; the members both majored in either science or social science) groups based on their academic majors. They were required to solve two problems that either demanded creativity (alternative uses task, AUT) or not (object characteristics task). We used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)-based hyperscanning to simultaneously record the neural responses of pairs of interacting participants in each group. The LD group showed more AUT fluency and perspective-taking behaviours than the HD group, whereas no group difference was observed for AUT uniqueness. Additionally, collective flexibility was higher in the HD group than in the LD group. The fNIRS results showed that the interpersonal brain synchronisation (IBS) increments at the right angular gyrus and right primary somatosensory cortex were greater in the LD group than in the HD group. These findings indicate that although high educational diversity benefits cognitive flexibility, it does not necessarily lead to a better idea quality or greater idea quantity. The greater IBS increments and perspective-taking behaviours that we observed in the LD group may account for this.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelong Lu
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xinuo Qiao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qiang Yun
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Ning Hao
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
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38
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Nguyen M, Chang A, Micciche E, Meshulam M, Nastase SA, Hasson U. Teacher-Student Neural Coupling During Teaching and Learning. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 17:367-376. [PMID: 34450637 PMCID: PMC8972247 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Human communication is remarkably versatile, enabling teachers to share highly abstracted and novel information with their students. What neural processes enable such transfer of information across brains during naturalistic teaching and learning? Here, a teacher was scanned in functional magnetic resonance imaging while giving an oral lecture with slides on a scientific topic followed by a review lecture. Students were then scanned while watching either the intact Lecture and Review (N = 20) or a temporally scrambled version of the lecture (N = 20). Using intersubject correlation, we observed widespread Teacher–Student neural coupling spanning sensory cortex and language regions along the superior temporal sulcus as well as higher-level regions including posterior medial cortex (PMC), superior parietal lobule, and dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Teacher–student alignment in higher-level areas was not observed when learning was disrupted by temporally scrambling the lecture. Moreover, teacher–student coupling in PMC was significantly correlated with learning: the more closely the student’s brain mirrored the teacher’s brain, the more the student improved their learning score. Together, these results suggest that the alignment of neural responses between teacher and students may reflect effective communication of complex information across brains in classroom settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mai Nguyen
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
| | - Ashley Chang
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
| | - Emily Micciche
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA
| | - Meir Meshulam
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
| | - Samuel A Nastase
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
| | - Uri Hasson
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.,Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
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39
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Jiang J, Zheng L, Lu C. A hierarchical model for interpersonal verbal communication. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:246-255. [PMID: 33150951 PMCID: PMC7812628 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2020] [Revised: 10/07/2020] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to use language makes us human. For decades, researchers have been racking their minds to understand the relation between language and the human brain. Nevertheless, most previous neuroscientific research has investigated this issue from a ‘single-brain’ perspective, thus neglecting the nature of interpersonal communication through language. With the development of modern hyperscanning techniques, researchers have begun probing the neurocognitive processes underlying interpersonal verbal communication and have examined the involvement of interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in communication. However, in most cases, the neurocognitive processes underlying INS are obscure. To tentatively address this issue, we propose herein a hierarchical model based on the findings from a growing amount of hyperscanning research. We suggest that three levels of neurocognitive processes are primarily involved in interpersonal verbal communication and are closely associated with distinctive patterns of INS. Different levels of these processes modulate each other bidirectionally. Furthermore, we argued that two processes (shared representation and interpersonal predictive coding) might coexist and work together at each level to facilitate successful interpersonal verbal communication. We hope this model will inspire further innovative research in several directions within the fields of social and cognitive neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Jiang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Lifen Zheng
- Center for Teacher Education Research, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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40
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Li Y, Chen R, Turel O, Feng T, Zhu CZ, He Q. Dyad sex composition effect on inter-brain synchronization in face-to-face cooperation. Brain Imaging Behav 2021; 15:1667-1675. [PMID: 32761565 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-020-00361-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Human cooperation behavior based on reciprocal altruism has been a hallmark of ancient and modern societies. Prior studies have indicated that inter-brain synchronization (IBS) between partners could exist during cooperation. However, how the sex composition of dyads influences the neural synchronization is still poorly understood. Here, we adopted functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) based hyperscanning and a task of building blocks to investigate the sex composition effect on IBS in face-to-face cooperation in a natural situation, by evaluating brain-to-brain interactions of forty-five same-sex and mixed-sex dyads. Results showed significantly stronger inter-brain synchronization in Brodmann area 10 (BA10) in cooperation. In addition, variance analysis indicated that only male-male dyads showed increased inter-brain synchronization in left inferior frontal region (i.e., BA10) specific to cooperation. More importantly, the inter-brain synchronization in male-male dyads was significantly greater than that in male-female and female-female dyads. These findings provide support for the impact of sex composition on social cooperation in a naturalistic interactive setting and extend our knowledge on the neural basis of face-to-face cooperation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuhua Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Rui Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Ofir Turel
- Information Systems and Decision Sciences, California State University, Fullerton, CA, USA.,Brain and Creativity Institute and Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Tingyong Feng
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.,Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing, China
| | - Chao-Zhe Zhu
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Qinghua He
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China. .,Chongqing Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, Chongqing, China. .,Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. .,Southwest University Branch, Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Chongqing, China. .,Institute of Psychology, Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
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41
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Zheng L, Liu W, Long Y, Zhai Y, Zhao H, Bai X, Zhou S, Li K, Zhang H, Liu L, Guo T, Ding G, Lu C. Affiliative bonding between teachers and students through interpersonal synchronisation in brain activity. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 15:97-109. [PMID: 32022237 PMCID: PMC7171379 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2019] [Revised: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Human beings organise socially. Theories have posited that interpersonal neural synchronisation might underlie the creation of affiliative bonds. Previous studies tested this hypothesis mainly during a social interaction, making it difficult to determine whether the identified synchronisation is associated with affiliative bonding or with social interaction. This study addressed this issue by focusing on the teacher–student relationship in the resting state both before and after a teaching period. Brain activity was simultaneously measured in both individuals using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results showed a significant increase in brain synchronisation at the right sensorimotor cortex between the teacher and student in the resting state after, but not before, the teaching period. Moreover, the synchronisation increased only after a turn-taking mode of teaching but not after a lecturing or video mode of teaching. A chain mediation analysis showed that brain synchronisation during teaching partially mediated the relationship between the brain synchronisation increase in the resting state and strength of the affiliative bond. Finally, both role assignment and social interaction were found to be required for affiliative bonding. Together, these results support the hypothesis that interpersonal synchronisation in brain activity underlies affiliative bonding and that social interaction mechanically mediates the bonding process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lifen Zheng
- Center for Teacher Education Research, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Wenda Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yuhang Long
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yu Zhai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Hui Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xialu Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Siyuan Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Kanyu Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Huan Zhang
- Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300074, China.,Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China.,Center of Collaborative Innovation for Assessment and Promotion of Mental Health, Tianjin 300074, China
| | - Li Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Taomei Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Guosheng Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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42
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Barreto C, Bruneri GDA, Brockington G, Ayaz H, Sato JR. A New Statistical Approach for fNIRS Hyperscanning to Predict Brain Activity of Preschoolers' Using Teacher's. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:622146. [PMID: 34025373 PMCID: PMC8137814 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.622146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Hyperscanning studies using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) have been performed to understand the neural mechanisms underlying human-human interactions. In this study, we propose a novel methodological approach that is developed for fNIRS multi-brain analysis. Our method uses support vector regression (SVR) to predict one brain activity time series using another as the predictor. We applied the proposed methodology to explore the teacher-student interaction, which plays a critical role in the formal learning process. In an illustrative application, we collected fNIRS data of the teacher and preschoolers’ dyads performing an interaction task. The teacher explained to the child how to add two numbers in the context of a game. The Prefrontal cortex and temporal-parietal junction of both teacher and student were recorded. A multivariate regression model was built for each channel in each dyad, with the student’s signal as the response variable and the teacher’s ones as the predictors. We compared the predictions of SVR with the conventional ordinary least square (OLS) predictor. The results predicted by the SVR model were statistically significantly correlated with the actual test data at least one channel-pair for all dyads. Overall, 29/90 channel-pairs across the five dyads (18 channels 5 dyads = 90 channel-pairs) presented significant signal predictions withthe SVR approach. The conventional OLS resulted in only 4 out of 90 valid predictions. These results demonstrated that the SVR could be used to perform channel-wise predictions across individuals, and the teachers’ cortical activity can be used to predict the student brain hemodynamic response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Candida Barreto
- Center of Mathematics, Computing and Cognition, Federal University of ABC, Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil
| | | | - Guilherme Brockington
- Center for Natural and Human Sciences, Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André, Brazil
| | - Hasan Ayaz
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.,Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.,Drexel Solutions Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.,Department of Family and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States.,Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Joao Ricardo Sato
- Center of Mathematics, Computing and Cognition, Federal University of ABC, Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil.,Interdisciplinary Unit for Applied Neuroscience, Federal University of ABC, Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil
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43
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Zhang R, Zhou X, Feng D, Yuan D, Li S, Lu C, Li X. Effects of acute psychosocial stress on interpersonal cooperation and competition in young women. Brain Cogn 2021; 151:105738. [PMID: 33915401 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2021.105738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Revised: 04/11/2021] [Accepted: 04/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Although tend-and-befriend is believed to be the dominant stress response in women, little is known regarding the effects of acute psychosocial stress on different dynamic social interactions. To measure these effects, 80 female participants were recruited, paired into the dyads, and instructed to complete cooperative and competitive key-pressing tasks after experiencing acute stress or a control condition. Each dyad of participants should press the key synchronously when the signal was presented in the cooperative task and as fast as possible in the competitive task. During the tasks, brain activities of prefrontal and right temporo-parietal areas were recorded from each dyad using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The results showed that acute psychosocial stress evidently promoted competitive behavior, accompanied by increased interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Despite the lack of a significant difference in the overall cooperation rate, the response time difference between two stressed participants markedly declined over time with more widespread INS in the prefrontal cortex, suggesting that there ensued cooperative improvement among stressed women. These findings behaviorally and neurologically revealed context-dependent response patterns to psychosocial stress in women during dynamic social interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruqian Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Xiaoyu Zhou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Danyang Feng
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Di Yuan
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Shijia Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Xianchun Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
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44
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Yeshurun Y, Nguyen M, Hasson U. The default mode network: where the idiosyncratic self meets the shared social world. Nat Rev Neurosci 2021; 22:181-192. [PMID: 33483717 PMCID: PMC7959111 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-020-00420-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 217] [Impact Index Per Article: 72.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
The default mode network (DMN) is classically considered an 'intrinsic' system, specializing in internally oriented cognitive processes such as daydreaming, reminiscing and future planning. In this Perspective, we suggest that the DMN is an active and dynamic 'sense-making' network that integrates incoming extrinsic information with prior intrinsic information to form rich, context-dependent models of situations as they unfold over time. We review studies that relied on naturalistic stimuli, such as stories and movies, to demonstrate how an individual's DMN neural responses are influenced both by external information accumulated as events unfold over time and by the individual's idiosyncratic past memories and knowledge. The integration of extrinsic and intrinsic information over long timescales provides a space for negotiating a shared neural code, which is necessary for establishing shared meaning, shared communication tools, shared narratives and, above all, shared communities and social networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaara Yeshurun
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
| | - Mai Nguyen
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Uri Hasson
- School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
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45
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Long Y, Zheng L, Zhao H, Zhou S, Zhai Y, Lu C. Interpersonal Neural Synchronization during Interpersonal Touch Underlies Affiliative Pair Bonding between Romantic Couples. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:1647-1659. [PMID: 33145593 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa316] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2020] [Revised: 09/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Interpersonal touch plays a key role in creating and maintaining affiliative pair bonds in romantic love. However, the neurocognitive mechanism of interpersonal touch in affiliative pair bonding remains unclear. Here, we hypothesized that interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) during interpersonal touch underlies affiliative pair bonding between romantic couples. To test this hypothesis, INS between heterosexual romantic couples and between opposite-sex friends was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based hyperscanning, while the pairs of participants touched or vocally communicated with each other. The results showed significantly greater INS between the mentalizing and sensorimotor neural systems of two members of a pair during interpersonal touch than during vocal communication between romantic couples but not between friends. Moreover, touch-induced INS was significantly correlated with the self-reported strength of romantic love. Finally, the results also showed that men's empathy positively modulated the association between touch-induced INS increase and the strength of romantic love. These findings support the idea that INS during interpersonal touch underlies affiliative pair bonding between romantic couples and suggest that empathy plays a modulatory role in the neurocognitive mechanism of interpersonal touch in affiliative pair bonding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuhang Long
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Lifen Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Hui Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Siyuan Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yu Zhai
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
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46
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Pan Y, Novembre G, Song B, Zhu Y, Hu Y. Dual brain stimulation enhances interpersonal learning through spontaneous movement synchrony. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:210-221. [PMID: 32591830 PMCID: PMC7812617 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2020] [Revised: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interactive learning denotes the ability to acquire new information from a conspecific-a prerequisite for cultural evolution and survival. As inspired by recent neurophysiological research, here we tested whether social interactive learning can be augmented by exogenously synchronizing oscillatory brain activity across an instructor and a learner engaged in a naturalistic song-learning task. We used a dual brain stimulation protocol entailing the trans-cranial delivery of synchronized electric currents in two individuals simultaneously. When we stimulated inferior frontal brain regions, with 6 Hz alternating currents being in-phase between the instructor and the learner, the dyad exhibited spontaneous and synchronized body movement. Remarkably, this stimulation also led to enhanced learning performance. These effects were both phase- and frequency-specific: 6 Hz anti-phase stimulation or 10 Hz in-phase stimulation, did not yield comparable results. Furthermore, a mediation analysis disclosed that interpersonal movement synchrony acted as a partial mediator of the effect of dual brain stimulation on learning performance, i.e. possibly facilitating the effect of dual brain stimulation on learning. Our results provide a causal demonstration that inter-brain synchronization is a sufficient condition to improve real-time information transfer between pairs of individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafeng Pan
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China
- Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit (UR2NF), Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 17165 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Giacomo Novembre
- Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 00161 Rome, Italy
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology and Parmacology, University College London, WC1E 6BT London, UK
| | - Bei Song
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China
- Department of Musicology, Harbin Conservatory of Music, 150070 Heilongjiang, China
| | - Yi Zhu
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China
| | - Yi Hu
- School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, 200062 Shanghai, China
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47
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Balters S, Baker JM, Hawthorne G, Reiss AL. Capturing Human Interaction in the Virtual Age: A Perspective on the Future of fNIRS Hyperscanning. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:588494. [PMID: 33240067 PMCID: PMC7669622 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.588494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2020] [Accepted: 10/02/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Advances in video conferencing capabilities combined with dramatic socio-dynamic shifts brought about by COVID-19, have redefined the ways in which humans interact in modern society. From business meetings to medical exams, or from classroom instruction to yoga class, virtual interfacing has permeated nearly every aspect of our daily lives. A seemingly endless stream of technological advances combined with our newfound reliance on virtual interfacing makes it likely that humans will continue to use this modern form of social interaction into the future. However, emergent evidence suggests that virtual interfacing may not be equivalent to face-to-face interactions. Ultimately, too little is currently understood about the mechanisms that underlie human interactions over the virtual divide, including how these mechanisms differ from traditional face-to-face interaction. Here, we propose functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning—simultaneous measurement of two or more brains—as an optimal approach to quantify potential neurocognitive differences between virtual and in-person interactions. We argue that increased focus on this understudied domain will help elucidate the reasons why virtual conferencing doesn't always stack up to in-person meetings and will also serve to spur new technologies designed to improve the virtual interaction experience. On the basis of existing fNIRS hyperscanning literature, we highlight the current gaps in research regarding virtual interactions. Furthermore, we provide insight into current hurdles regarding fNIRS hyperscanning hardware and methodology that should be addressed in order to shed light on this newly critical element of everyday life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie Balters
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Joseph M Baker
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Grace Hawthorne
- Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Allan L Reiss
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.,Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
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48
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Perone S, Gartstein MA, Anderson AJ. Dynamics of frontal alpha asymmetry in mother-infant dyads: Insights from the Still Face Paradigm. Infant Behav Dev 2020; 61:101500. [PMID: 33197784 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2020] [Revised: 10/18/2020] [Accepted: 10/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The parent-infant dynamic has a foundational role in emotion regulation development. Electroencephalography (EEG) hyperscanning from mother-infant dyads can provide an unprecedented window into inter-brain dynamics during the parent-infant exchange. This potential depends on the feasibility of hyperscanning with dyads in emotionally taxing contexts. We sought to demonstrate feasibility of hyperscanning from 10 mother-infant dyads during the Still Face Procedure (SFP). We measured frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) to elucidate ongoing regulatory dynamics and considered maternal caregiving quality as a window into dyads' history. Results showed dyads exhibited a rightward shift in FAA over the course of SFP, indicating growing negative emotionality and desire to withdraw. Results also showed growing variability in FAA for infants over the course of SFP, indicating less active emotional control as stress ensued. Variability was especially low for mothers during periods when asked to be emotionally unavailable, suggesting active control to match the task demands. Dyads with a more responsive mother exhibited higher (more left) FAA relative to dyads with a less responsive mother, which might reflect a more positive emotional experience overall. We raise important methodological and theoretical questions that hyperscanning during SFP can address, such as the developmental origins of trait-like self-regulatory dispositions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sammy Perone
- Department of Human Development, Washington State University, United States.
| | - Maria A Gartstein
- Department of Psychology, Washington State University, United States
| | - Alana J Anderson
- Department of Human Development, Washington State University, United States
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49
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Kelsen BA, Sumich A, Kasabov N, Liang SHY, Wang GY. What has social neuroscience learned from hyperscanning studies of spoken communication? A systematic review. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 132:1249-1262. [PMID: 33022298 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2020] [Revised: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
A growing body of literature examining the neurocognitive processes of interpersonal linguistic interaction indicates the emergence of neural alignment as participants engage in oral communication. However, questions have arisen whether the study results can be interpreted beyond observations of cortical functionality and extended to the mutual understanding between communicators. This review presents evidence from electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning studies of interbrain synchrony (IBS) in which participants communicated via spoken language. The studies are classified into: knowledge sharing; turn-taking speech co-ordination; cooperation, problem-solving and creativity; and naturalistic discussion paradigms according to the type of interaction specified in each study. Alignment predominantly occurred in the frontal and temporo-parietal areas, which may reflect activation of the mirror and mentalizing systems. We argue that the literature presents a significant contribution to advancing our understanding of IBS and mutual understanding between communicators. We end with suggestions for future research, including analytical approaches and experimental conditions and hypothesize that brain-inspired neural networks are promising techniques for better understanding of IBS through hyperscanning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brent A Kelsen
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand; Language Center, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan
| | - Alexander Sumich
- Division of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Nikola Kasabov
- Knowledge Engineering and Discovery Research Institute (KEDRI), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Sophie H Y Liang
- Department of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Taoyuan, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Grace Y Wang
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
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50
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Experience-Dependent Counselor-Client Brain Synchronization during Psychological Counseling. eNeuro 2020; 7:ENEURO.0236-20.2020. [PMID: 32878962 PMCID: PMC7519169 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0236-20.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2020] [Revised: 08/18/2020] [Accepted: 08/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of the counselor’s experience in building an alliance with the clients remains controversial. Recently, the expanding nascent studies on interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) on human subjects have hinted at the possible neural substrates underlying the relationship qualities between the counselor-client dyads. Our study assessed the clients’ self-report working alliance (WA) as well as simultaneously measured IBS by fNIRS in 14 experienced versus 16 novice counselor-client dyads during the first integrative-orientation psychological counseling session. We observed that synchronous brain activity patterns were elicited from the right temporo-parietal junction (rTPJ) across counselor-client dyads. Furthermore, such IBS, together with alliance quality, was especially evident when counselors had more psychotherapy experience. Time-lagged counselor-client brain synchronization might co-vary with the alliance (goal component) when the client’s brain activity preceded that of the counselor. These findings favor the notion that the IBS between counselor-client associated with the WA is an experience-dependent phenomenon, suggesting that a potential adaptive mechanism is embedded in psychological counseling.
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