1
|
Li Z, Hong B, Nolte G, Engel AK, Zhang D. Speaker-listener neural coupling correlates with semantic and acoustic features of naturalistic speech. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2024; 19:nsae051. [PMID: 39012092 PMCID: PMC11296674 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsae051] [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: 10/11/2023] [Revised: 05/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent research has extensively reported the phenomenon of inter-brain neural coupling between speakers and listeners during speech communication. Yet, the specific speech processes underlying this neural coupling remain elusive. To bridge this gap, this study estimated the correlation between the temporal dynamics of speaker-listener neural coupling with speech features, utilizing two inter-brain datasets accounting for different noise levels and listener's language experiences (native vs. non-native). We first derived time-varying speaker-listener neural coupling, extracted acoustic feature (envelope) and semantic features (entropy and surprisal) from speech, and then explored their correlational relationship. Our findings reveal that in clear conditions, speaker-listener neural coupling correlates with semantic features. However, as noise increases, this correlation is only significant for native listeners. For non-native listeners, neural coupling correlates predominantly with acoustic feature rather than semantic features. These results revealed how speaker-listener neural coupling is associated with the acoustic and semantic features under various scenarios, enriching our understanding of the inter-brain neural mechanisms during natural speech communication. We therefore advocate for more attention on the dynamic nature of speaker-listener neural coupling and its modeling with multilevel speech features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhuoran Li
- Department of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
- Stead Family Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, United States
| | - 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 Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
- Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Ni J, Yang J, Ma Y. Social bonding in groups of humans selectively increases inter-status information exchange and prefrontal neural synchronization. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002545. [PMID: 38502637 PMCID: PMC10950240 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Social groups in various social species are organized with hierarchical structures that shape group dynamics and the nature of within-group interactions. In-group social bonding, exemplified by grooming behaviors among animals and collective rituals and team-building activities in human societies, is recognized as a practical adaptive strategy to foster group harmony and stabilize hierarchical structures in both human and nonhuman animal groups. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of social bonding on hierarchical groups remain largely unexplored. Here, we conducted simultaneous neural recordings on human participants engaged in-group communications within small hierarchical groups (n = 528, organized into 176 three-person groups) to investigate how social bonding influenced hierarchical interactions and neural synchronizations. We differentiated interpersonal interactions between individuals of different (inter-status) or same (intra-status) social status and observed distinct effects of social bonding on inter-status and intra-status interactions. Specifically, social bonding selectively increased frequent and rapid information exchange and prefrontal neural synchronization for inter-status dyads but not intra-status dyads. Furthermore, social bonding facilitated unidirectional neural alignment from group leader to followers, enabling group leaders to predictively align their prefrontal activity with that of followers. These findings provide insights into how social bonding influences hierarchical dynamics and neural synchronization while highlighting the role of social status in shaping the strength and nature of social bonding experiences in human groups.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jun Ni
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jiaxin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Yina Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Cui Y, Zhang Q. Effects of age on the time course of syntactic priming in Chinese sentence production: an ERP study. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad503. [PMID: 38282453 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad503] [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: 09/12/2023] [Revised: 12/03/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2024] Open
Abstract
Using a syntactic priming task, we investigated the time course of syntactic encoding in Chinese sentence production and compared encoding patterns between younger and older adults. Participants alternately read sentence descriptions and overtly described pictures, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. We manipulated the abstract prime structure (active or passive) as well as the lexical overlap of the prime and the target (verb overlap or no overlap). The syntactic choice results replicated classical abstract priming and lexical boost effects in both younger and older adults. However, when production latency was taken into account, the speed benefit from syntactic repetition differed between the two age groups. Meanwhile, preferred priming facilitated production in both age groups, whereas nonpreferred priming inhibited production in the older group. For electroencephalography, an earlier effect of syntactic repetition and a later effect of lexical overlap showed a two-stage pattern of syntactic encoding. Older adults also showed a more delayed and interactive encoding pattern than younger adults, indicating a greater reliance on lexical information. These results are illustrative of the two-stage competition and residual activation models.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ying Cui
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Beijing 100872, China
| | - Qingfang Zhang
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, 59 Zhongguancun Street, Beijing 100872, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
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.
Collapse
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.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Hakim U, De Felice S, Pinti P, Zhang X, Noah JA, Ono Y, Burgess PW, Hamilton A, Hirsch J, Tachtsidis I. Quantification of inter-brain coupling: A review of current methods used in haemodynamic and electrophysiological hyperscanning studies. Neuroimage 2023; 280:120354. [PMID: 37666393 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Hyperscanning is a form of neuroimaging experiment where the brains of two or more participants are imaged simultaneously whilst they interact. Within the domain of social neuroscience, hyperscanning is increasingly used to measure inter-brain coupling (IBC) and explore how brain responses change in tandem during social interaction. In addition to cognitive research, some have suggested that quantification of the interplay between interacting participants can be used as a biomarker for a variety of cognitive mechanisms aswell as to investigate mental health and developmental conditions including schizophrenia, social anxiety and autism. However, many different methods have been used to quantify brain coupling and this can lead to questions about comparability across studies and reduce research reproducibility. Here, we review methods for quantifying IBC, and suggest some ways moving forward. Following the PRISMA guidelines, we reviewed 215 hyperscanning studies, across four different brain imaging modalities: functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), functional magnetic resonance (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). Overall, the review identified a total of 27 different methods used to compute IBC. The most common hyperscanning modality is fNIRS, used by 119 studies, 89 of which adopted wavelet coherence. Based on the results of this literature survey, we first report summary statistics of the hyperscanning field, followed by a brief overview of each signal that is obtained from each neuroimaging modality used in hyperscanning. We then discuss the rationale, assumptions and suitability of each method to different modalities which can be used to investigate IBC. Finally, we discuss issues surrounding the interpretation of each method.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- U Hakim
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
| | - S De Felice
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - P Pinti
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - X Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - J A Noah
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Y Ono
- Department of Electronics and Bioinformatics, School of Science and Technology, Meiji University, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - P W Burgess
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - A Hamilton
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - J Hirsch
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States; Departments of Neuroscience and Comparative Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States; Yale University, Wu Tsai Institute, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - I Tachtsidis
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Park J, Shin J, Lee J, Jeong J. Inter-Brain Synchrony Pattern Investigation on Triadic Board Game Play-Based Social Interaction: An fNIRS Study. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2023; 31:2923-2932. [PMID: 37410649 DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2023.3292844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Recent advances in functional neuroimaging techniques, including methodologies such as fNIRS, have enabled the evaluation of inter-brain synchrony (IBS) induced by interpersonal interactions. However, the social interactions assumed in existing dyadic hyperscanning studies do not sufficiently emulate polyadic social interactions in the real world. Therefore, we devised an experimental paradigm that incorporates the Korean folk board game "Yut-nori" to reproduce social interactions that emulate social activities in the real world. We recruited 72 participants aged 25.2 ± 3.9 years (mean ± standard deviation) and divided them into 24 triads to play Yut-nori, following the standard or modified rules. The participants either competed against an opponent (standard rule) or cooperated with an opponent (modified rule) to achieve a goal efficiently. Three different fNIRS devices were employed to record cortical hemodynamic activations in the prefrontal cortex both individually and simultaneously. Wavelet transform coherence (WTC) analyses were performed to assess prefrontal IBS within a frequency range of 0.05-0.2 Hz. Consequently, we observed that cooperative interactions increased prefrontal IBS across overall frequency bands of interest. In addition, we also found that different purposes for cooperation generated different spectral characteristics of IBS depending on the frequency bands. Moreover, IBS in the frontopolar cortex (FPC) reflected the influence of verbal interactions. The findings of our study suggest that future hyperscanning studies should consider polyadic social interactions to reveal the properties of IBS in real-world interactions.
Collapse
|
8
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Ge Y, Ashwin C, Li F, Cao W, Zhang Y, Zhao X, Sun B, Li W. The validation of a Mandarin version of the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ-Chinese) in Chinese samples. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0275903. [PMID: 36701341 PMCID: PMC9879452 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Empathy involves both empathic ability and empathic motivation. An important topic has been how to measure empathic ability and motivation simultaneously in both clinical and non-clinical samples and across different cultures. The Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ) is a self-report questionnaire that measures empathic ability and motivation in a questionnaire. The current study aimed to validate the Mandarin Chinese version of the ECQ (ECQ-Chinese) in three Chinese samples. In study 1, a total of 538 Chinese participants (Sample 1) completed the ECQ-Chinese via an online survey, and existing measures of empathy and related constructs which were used for criterion validity. In study 2, a total of 104 participants (Sample 2) were recruited again from sample 1 and completed the ECQ-Chinese three weeks later to investigate test-retest reliability. In study 3, a further 324 participants (Sample 3) completed the ECQ-Chinese for confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that the ECQ-Chinese has a good internal consistency reliability, split-half reliability, and criterion validity (Study 1), and a good test-retest reliability (Study 2). Further, Study 3 found that a 22-item ECQ-Chinese consisting of five subscales had a good construct validity, convergence validity and discriminate validity, demonstrating it to be a suitable tool for the measurement of empathic ability and motivation in Chinese samples and to carry out cross-cultural studies of empathy and its components.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yabo Ge
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
- Institute of Child Development, Jinhua Polytechnic, Jinhua, China
| | - Chris Ashwin
- Centre for Applied Autism Research, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
| | - Fengying Li
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Wei Cao
- Publicity Department, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Yu Zhang
- College of Mathematics and Computer Science, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Xuan Zhao
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
| | - Binghai Sun
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
- * E-mail: (BS); (WL)
| | - Weijian Li
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China
- * E-mail: (BS); (WL)
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Long Y, Zhong M, Aili R, Zhang H, Fang X, Lu C. Transcranial direct current stimulation of the right anterior temporal lobe changes interpersonal neural synchronization and shared mental processes. Brain Stimul 2023; 16:28-39. [PMID: 36572209 DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2022.12.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 12/08/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) is a ubiquitous phenomenon between individuals, and recent studies have further demonstrated close associations between INS and shared external sensorimotor input and/or internal mental processes within a dyad. However, most previous studies have employed an observational approach to describe the behavior-INS correlation, leading to difficulties in causally disentangling the relationship among INS, external sensorimotor input and the internal mental process. OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS The present study aimed to directly change the level of INS through anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to test whether the change in INS would directly impact the internal mental process (Hypothesis 1) or indirectly through external sensorimotor input; the interaction behaviors were also changed (Hypothesis 2) or not (Hypothesis 3). METHODS Thirty pairs of romantically involved heterosexual couples were recruited for a within-subjects design. Three conditions were assessed: a true stimulation condition with 20-min anodal high-definition tDCS to the right anterior temporal lobe (rATL) of women before they communicated with their partners, a sham stimulation condition and a control brain region stimulation condition. The comparison between the true and sham or control brain region conditions allows us to detect the true effect of brain stimulation on INS. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning was used to simultaneously collect dyadic participants' hemodynamic signals during communication. INS, empathy, and interaction behaviors were examined and compared among different stimulation conditions. RESULTS True brain stimulation significantly decreased INS between the rATL of the women and sensorimotor cortex (SMC) of the men compared to the sham stimulation condition (t(27.8) = -2.821, P = 0.009, d = 0.714) and control brain region stimulation condition (t(27.2) = -2.606, P = 0.015, d = 0.664) during communication. It also significantly decreased the level of emotional empathy (F(2,145) = 6.893, P = 0.001) but did not change sensorimotor processes, such as verbal or nonverbal interaction behaviors. However, nonverbal behaviors mediated the relationship between the changes in INS and emotional empathy (lower limit confidence interval = 0.01, upper limit confidence interval = 2.66). CONCLUSION(S) These findings support the third hypothesis, suggesting that INS is associated with the shared internal mental process indirectly via the sensorimotor process, but the sensorimotor process itself does not covary with the INS and the associated internal mental process. These results provide new insight into the hierarchical architecture of dual-brain function from a bottom-up perspective.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yuhang Long
- Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Miao Zhong
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Ruhuiya Aili
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, 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, 300387, China
| | - Xiaoyi Fang
- Institute of Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, 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.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Wu W, Morales M, Patel T, Pickering MJ, Hoffman P. Modulation of brain activity by psycholinguistic information during naturalistic speech comprehension and production. Cortex 2022; 155:287-306. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.08.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
|
13
|
Park J, Shin J, Jeong J. Inter-Brain Synchrony Levels According to Task Execution Modes and Difficulty Levels: an fNIRS/GSR Study. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2022; 30:194-204. [PMID: 35041606 DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2022.3144168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Hyperscanning is a brain imaging technique that measures brain synchrony caused by social interactions. Recent research on hyperscanning has revealed substantial inter-brain synchrony (IBS), but little is known about the link between IBS and mental workload. To study this link, we conducted an experiment consisting of button-pressing tasks of three different difficulty levels for the cooperation and competition modes with 56 participants aged 23.7±3.8 years (mean±standard deviation). We attempted to observe IBS using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and galvanic skin response (GSR) to assess the activities of the human autonomic nervous system. We found that the IBS levels increased in a frequency band of 0.075-0.15 Hz, which was unrelated to the task repetition frequency in the cooperation mode according to the task difficulty level. Significant relative inter-brain synchrony (RIBS) increases were observed in three and 10 channels out of 15 for the hard tasks compared to the normal and easy tasks, respectively. We observed that the average GSR values increased with increasing task difficulty levels for the competition mode only. Thus, our results suggest that the IBS revealed by fNIRS and GSR is not related to the hemodynamic changes induced by mental workload, simple behavioral synchrony such as button-pressing timing, or autonomic nervous system activity. IBS is thus explicitly caused by social interactions such as cooperation.
Collapse
|
14
|
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: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Li Z, Li J, Hong B, Nolte G, Engel AK, Zhang D. Speaker-Listener Neural Coupling Reveals an Adaptive Mechanism for Speech Comprehension in a Noisy Environment. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:4719-4729. [PMID: 33969389 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2021] [Revised: 03/25/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Comprehending speech in noise is an essential cognitive skill for verbal communication. However, it remains unclear how our brain adapts to the noisy environment to achieve comprehension. The present study investigated the neural mechanisms of speech comprehension in noise using an functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based inter-brain approach. A group of speakers was invited to tell real-life stories. The recorded speech audios were added with meaningless white noise at four signal-to-noise levels and then played to listeners. Results showed that speaker-listener neural couplings of listener's left inferior frontal gyri (IFG), that is, sensorimotor system, and right middle temporal gyri (MTG), angular gyri (AG), that is, auditory system, were significantly higher in listening conditions than in the baseline. More importantly, the correlation between neural coupling of listener's left IFG and the comprehension performance gradually became more positive with increasing noise level, indicating an adaptive role of sensorimotor system in noisy speech comprehension; however, the top behavioral correlations for the coupling of listener's right MTG and AG were only obtained in mild noise conditions, indicating a different and less robust mechanism. To sum up, speaker-listener coupling analysis provides added value and new sight to understand the neural mechanism of speech-in-noise comprehension.
Collapse
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
| | - 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
| | - 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
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Liu L, Ding X, Li H, Zhou Q, Gao D, Lu C, Ding G. Reduced listener-speaker neural coupling underlies speech understanding difficulty in older adults. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 226:1571-1584. [PMID: 33839942 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02271-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2020] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
An increasing number of studies have highlighted the importance of listener-speaker neural coupling in successful verbal communication. Whether the brain-to-brain coupling changes with healthy aging and the possible role of this change in the speech comprehension of older adults remain unexplored. In this study, we scanned with fMRI a young and an older speaker telling real-life stories and then played the audio recordings to a group of young (N = 28, aged 19-27 year) and a group of older adults during scanning (N = 27, aged 53-75 year), respectively. The older listeners understood the speech less well than did the young listeners, and the age of the older listeners was negatively correlated with their level of speech understanding. Compared to the young listener-speaker dyads, the older dyads exhibited reduced neural couplings in both linguistic and extra-linguistic areas. Moreover, within the older group, the listener's age was negatively correlated with the overall strength of interbrain coupling, which in turn was associated with reduced speech understanding. These results reveal the deficits of older adults in achieving neural alignment with other brains, which may underlie the age-related decline in speech understanding.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lanfang Liu
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Xiaowei Ding
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Hehui Li
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, PR China
| | - Qi Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University & IDG, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Dingguo Gao
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Department of Psychology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Chunming Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University & IDG, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Guosheng Ding
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University & IDG, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 100875, China.
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
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.
Collapse
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
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Brain-to-Brain Neural Synchrony During Social Interactions: A Systematic Review on Hyperscanning Studies. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/app10196669] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive review on hyperscanning research (measuring brain activity simultaneously from more than two people interacting) using an explicit systematic method, the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA). Data were searched from IEEE Xplore, PubMed, Engineering Village, Web of Science and Scopus databases. Inclusion criteria were journal articles written in English from 2000 to 19 June 2019. A total of 126 empirical studies were screened out to address three specific questions regarding the neuroimaging method, the application domain, and the experiment paradigm. Results showed that the most used neuroimaging method with hyperscanning was magnetoencephalography/electroencephalography (MEG/EEG; 47%), and the least used neuroimaging method was hyper-transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) (1%). Applications in cognition accounted for almost half the studies (48%), while educational applications accounted for less than 5% of the studies. Applications in decision-making tasks were the second most common (26%), shortly followed by applications in motor synchronization (23%). The findings from this systematic review that were based on documented, transparent and reproducible searches should help build cumulative knowledge and guide future research regarding inter-brain neural synchrony during social interactions, that is, hyperscanning research.
Collapse
|
21
|
Hou Y, Song B, Hu Y, Pan Y, Hu Y. The averaged inter-brain coherence between the audience and a violinist predicts the popularity of violin performance. Neuroimage 2020; 211:116655. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2019] [Revised: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 02/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
|
22
|
Yang J, Zhang H, Ni J, De Dreu CKW, Ma Y. Within-group synchronization in the prefrontal cortex associates with intergroup conflict. Nat Neurosci 2020; 23:754-760. [PMID: 32341541 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-0630-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2019] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Individuals immersed in groups sometimes lose their individuality, take risks they would normally avoid and approach outsiders with unprovoked hostility. In this study, we identified within-group neural synchronization in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) and the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) as a candidate mechanism underlying intergroup hostility. We organized 546 individuals into 91 three-versus-three-person intergroup competitions, induced in-group bonding or no-bonding control manipulation and measured neural activity and within-group synchronization using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. After in-group bonding (versus control), individuals gave more money to in-group members than to out-group members and contributed more money to outcompete their rivals. In-group bonding decreased rDLPFC activity and increased functional connectivity between the rDLPFC and the rTPJ. Especially during the out-group attack, in-group bonding also increased within-group synchronization in both the rDLPFC and the rTPJ, and within-group rDLPFC synchronization positively correlated with intergroup hostility. Within-group synchronized reduction in prefrontal activity might explain how in-group bonding leads to impulsive and collective hostility toward outsiders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jiaxin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Hejing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jun Ni
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Carsten K W De Dreu
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yina Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Sun B, Xiao W, Feng X, Shao Y, Zhang W, Li W. Behavioral and brain synchronization differences between expert and novice teachers when collaborating with students. Brain Cogn 2019; 139:105513. [PMID: 31887711 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2019.105513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Revised: 12/16/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Differences in behavior and neural mechanisms between expert and novice teachers when collaborating with students are poorly understood. This study investigated whether expert teachers do better in collaborating with students than novice teachers and explored the neural basis of such differences. Novice teacher and student (NT-S) dyads and expert teacher and student (ET-S) dyads were recruited to complete an interactive task consisting of a cooperation and an independent condition. During the experiment, neural activity in the prefrontal cortex of the participants was recorded with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The results show higher accuracy for the ET-S dyads than the NT-S dyads in the cooperation condition; however, no difference was found in the independent condition. Increased interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) was detected in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of participants in ET-S dyads, but not in NT-S dyads in the cooperation condition. Moreover, an interaction effect of dyad type and conditions on IBS was observed, revealing IBS was stronger in ET-S dyads than in NT-S dyads. In ET-S dyads, IBS was positively correlated with the teachers' perspective-taking ability and accuracy. These findings suggest that expert teachers collaborate better with students than novice teachers, and IBS might be the neural marker for this difference.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Binghai Sun
- School of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China; Research Center of Tin Ka Ping Moral Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
| | - Weilong Xiao
- School of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China; Research Center of Tin Ka Ping Moral Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
| | - Xiaodan Feng
- School of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China; Research Center of Tin Ka Ping Moral Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
| | - Yuting Shao
- School of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China; Research Center of Tin Ka Ping Moral Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wenhai Zhang
- School of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China; Research Center of Tin Ka Ping Moral Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China.
| | - Weijian Li
- School of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China; Research Center of Tin Ka Ping Moral Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, China.
| |
Collapse
|