Distinct cerebral coherence in task-based fMRI hyperscanning: cooperation versus competition

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Social Interaction

Background:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) hyperscanning enables simultaneous brain activity recording in multiple individuals.
• Understanding inter-brain synchrony during social interactions is crucial for deciphering cooperative and competitive behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate context-based inter-brain coupling during cooperation and competition using fMRI hyperscanning.
• To develop and validate an analysis method for rapid event-related fMRI hyperscanning tasks.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a two-site fMRI hyperscanning experiment with 305 km separation.
• Implemented a novel analysis approach to estimate cerebral coherence in jittered event-related fMRI tasks.
• Utilized finite impulse response functions and concatenated beta volume series for analysis.

Main Results:

• Identified distinct interpersonal brain connections: right superior temporal gyrus (rSTG) during cooperation and left precuneus (lPrecuneus) during competition, seeded from the right temporal-parietal junction (rTPJ).
• Observed peak synchrony at a specific frequency (0.0625 Hz) for rTPJ-rSTG and rTPJ-lPrecuneus couplings.
• Confirmed that optimal trial frequency was critical for observing these inter-brain couplings.

Conclusions:

• The developed analysis method enhances the applicability of interpersonal coherence in rapid event-related fMRI hyperscanning.
• Demonstrated context-dependent inter-brain coupling patterns during cooperative and competitive social interactions.