EEG functional connectivity and brain-to-brain coupling in failing cognitive strategies

Cooperation behavior is a core question of study on social neuroscience. In the present study, inter-brain functional connectivity and cognitive performance were considered during joint which was failing. The cognitive performance and the EEG (brain oscillations from delta to beta) underlying the execution of joint-actions were recorded when dyads of participants executed synchronicity game and received reinforcing negative feedbacks A pre-feedback condition (cooperation) and a control condition (individual task, T0) were provided as well as a check for possible learning effect (time series analysis). Finally, correlation analysis was considered to assess the relation between behavioral and physiological levels. Results showed that the external feedback was able to modulate participants' responses in both behavioral and neural components with increased RTs and ERs after the negative reinforcement. Similarly, a reduced inter-brain connectivity was found, mainly localized within the superior frontal regions, and for low-frequency bands (delta and theta). In contrast pre-feedback condition showed the best performance in terms of both behavioral and brain-to-brain coupling activity. Moreover, the presence of significant correlations between RTs and inter-brain connectivity revealed that the failing cooperation induces significant negative effects on the cognitive and brain strategy in comparison with cooperative (pre-feedback) and individual (control) condition. The present study provides significant contribution to the identification of patterns of cognitive behavior and functional connectivity when social reinforcement is provided within dyads of participants by using a hyperscanning approach.